Investigators sent to crashed plane

JAKARTA. The National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) is sending two investigators to the scene of a Susi Air plane crash in East Kalimantan, in which two passengers were killed.

“We are sending two investigators and a maintenance engineer to the site this morning to collect data and later investigate [the cause of] the crash,” KNKT air transportation safety head Masruri told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

He said the investigators were expected to arrive at the site at around 12:30 p.m. Jakarta time (1:30 p.m. local time).

In a separate interview, Rajoki Aritonang, head of Temindung Airport in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, said that the Susi Air plane, with the registration number PK VVQ, lost contact with an airport in Balikapapan, East Kalimantan, at 5:10 p.m. local time on Wednesday.

“The plane crashed into the edge of a cliff in Muara Ritan village, Kembang Janggut, Kutai Kartanegara regency,” Rajoki told the Post in a telephone interview.

He identified the victims as South African pilot Jonathan James Willis and Ian McDouglas, an Australian surveyor from PT Surtech.

He also said that the victims’ bodies have been sent to Melak, in Kutai Barat regency, via helicopter.

The KNKT has now recorded at least three Susi Air plane crashes since 2011, Masruri said.

The previous two crashes occurred last September, with both planes plunging into mountainous terrain in Papua.

He said that the KNKT was still investigating the cause of the two crashes, but he suspected that human-error and the difficult terrain on the Indonesian island were the major factors.

“Flying a plane in a mountainous area is difficult and sometimes pilots underestimate the conditions," he said. (The Jakarta Post)