Jetliner ablaze upon landing

JAKARTA, Indonesia – An Indonesian jetliner carrying 140 people burst into flames as it landed on Java island today, trapping a number of people inside the burning plane, the airline and witnesses said.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Indonesian officials had confirmed 49 deaths, and some Australians may be among them.

“It is a terrible tragedy,” Howard told a nationally television news conference.

The Garuda airlines jet shook violently as it prepared to land and then overshot the runway, hitting fences and slamming into a rice field shortly before 7 a.m., survivors said.

Many passengers escaped, and rescuers battled flames to reach those trapped inside, said Capt. Ari Sapari, operations director of national carrier Garuda. The blaze, which gutted the aircraft, took two hours to put out.

Howard said Indonesian officials had confirmed 49 deaths, though it was not clear where that information came from.

Laras Widhyo, from Garuda’s Yogyakarta office, said at least 22 were killed and 92 were being treated at three hospitals, some with broken bones and burns. He said some passengers were thought to have walked away from the accident, making it difficult to confirm the death toll.

The state-owned airline said that 140 passengers and crew were on board.

There was no immediate word on what sparked the blaze. Survivors said it began at the front the plane before engulfing the aircraft.

“Before the plane landed it was shaking. Suddenly there was smoke inside the fuselage, it hit the runway and then it landed in a rice field,” local Islamic leader Dien Syamsudin told El-Shinta. “I saw a foreigner. His clothes were on fire, and I jumped from the emergency exit. Thank God I survived.”

Another survivor told local TV station RCTI-TV that “before landing I felt the plane shake strongly.”

“We overshot the runway, then I heard the sound of an explosion and ran through an emergency exit,” continued passenger Muhammad Dimyati. “I believe many passengers remained trapped on board.”