The death toll after the crash of an Indonesian air force plane rose to 141 Wednesday as rescuers used heavy machinery to search the debris.
The plane had been packed with military personnel and their families.
The Hercules C-130 transporter plane had been crashed into a residential area in the city of Medan on Tuesday, shortly after taking off from an airbase in the city on Sumatra island.
Notify hat several buildings were heavily damaged, cars reduced to flaming wrecks and the plane itself was almost completely destroyed, with the tail the only part of the 51-year-old aircraft still recognisable after the disaster.
Many of those on board the flight to an island off Sumatra, which was carrying 122 people, were believed to be servicemen and women and their families. The air force has said no one survived the crash.
Meanwhile it had been unclear that how many people died on the ground, but a steady stream of bodies has been arriving at a Medan hospital as rescuers pull them from the disaster scene, and police said Wednesday that the total death toll now stood at 141.
Agustinus Tarigan, a police official at the hospital, said so far 45 people had been identified — 30 air force personnel, six army personnel and nine civilians.
Most of those so far identified “were from the armed forces because they were wearing uniform,” he said.
He said officials were working to identify the others by examining “things we found on the bodies of the victims such as ID cards, or a ring”.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo expressed sorrow at the accident, tweeting that families affected by the disaster must have “patience and strength”.
Bureau Report
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