Indonesia plane crash claims 90 lives, 12 survive

By eTN Staff writer
The Indonesian passenger plane, privately owned low-cost airline Adam Air, that went missing on Monday has been found.  Adam Air's flight KI-574, which disappeared in stormy weather, crashed on Sulawesi's western coast, claiming 90 lives.  The airline told reporters that 12 on board the Boeing 737 survived.

The Jakarta-based carrier, which was on a two-hour flight from East Java to Manado, carried six crew and 96 passengers, including 11 children. The plane was flying from Surabaya on Java island to Manado on Sulawesi island.

Contact was lost when the plane was at an altitude of 35,000 feet, about one hour before it was due to land, according to Tatang Ikhsan, director general at Indonesia's Ministry of Transport.
Reports indicate that the plane sent out two distress signals half-way through its two-hour flight.  Air traffic controllers lost contact with flight KI-574 while it was flying at 35,000 feet from Indonesia's main island of Java to Sulawesi. 

This was not the first time the budget carrier has come under fire.  It has been reported that an Adam Air Boeing 737-300 plane was forced to make an emergency landing in February at a small airport in East Nusa Tenggara province after a navigational failure caused the pilot to lose contact with the destination airport in Makassar.

Adam Air, which is partly owned by Agung Laksono, the speaker of the lower house of parliament, began operating in 2003 as a low-fare airline. It currently has 19 Boeing 737 planes.

January 2, 2007   Posted in: Indonesia