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In the aftermath of such a tragic crash, is a scandal brewing?

Did the Indonesian military transport plane that crashed in Medan have non-military paying passengers?

2nd July 2015

RT @STForeignDesk: Medan plane crash: Victims’ families can’t sue as they bought cheap tickets http://str.sg/fvM 

JAKARTA (JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – The families of victims on the ill-fated Hercules plane revealed on Thursday that they could not sue if anything happened to the plane because they had paid discounted prices for the flight tickets.

Tekti Pakpahan said that two of her family members who died in the plane crash paid 800,000 rupiah (S$80) each for the flights, rebuffing a previous official statement that the plane was not for commercial purposes.

“Probably the money was asked because they did not come from an Army officer’s family. They took the flight because a friend, who is an Army officer, recommended them,” Mr Tetdi said as quoted by tribunnews.com on Thursday.

Previously, Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal Agus Supriyatna denied that Air Force planes were used for commercial purposes and said no civilians were allowed onboard except for Army families.

“If it (the practice) exists, prove it to me, so we can fire them (those responsible). Nothing is commercialised,” he said.

A woman who refused to be named rebuffed Mr Agus’ statement, saying that her two sons, who were victims of the plane crash, indeed paid 800,000 rupiah per ticket.

“Then, they made a statement to us, that it is not a ticket, with one of the points saying that if bad things happen, the families can not sue,” she said, crying.

http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/medan-plane-crash-victims-families-cant-sue-as-they-bought-cheap-tickets

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1 July 2015

Death toll: 142

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Indonesian air force’s best men died in Medan plane crash http://goo.gl/AXtiJ6 

Indonesia military plane crash toll rises to 142 http://u.afp.com/ZJ8e 

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141 bodies recovered so far from #MedanCrash: Police http://tdy.sg/1dvSpUp 

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#Indonesia‘s president calls for review of air force fleet after deadly plane crash http://bit.ly/1g9zlgH 

MEDAN, Indonesia (Reuters) – Indonesia’s President called for an evaluation of the country’s ageing air force fleet, as the death toll from Tuesday’s military plane crash hit 141.
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The crash of the aircraft, a C-130B Hercules aircraft that went into service half a century ago, is bound to put a fresh spotlight on Indonesia’s woeful air safety record and its ageing planes. “The evacuation of victims from the Hercules plane must be prioritised. Then there must be an evaluation of the age of planes and defence systems,” President Joko Widodo tweeted late on Tuesday. “Hopefully, we can stay away from disasters.”
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According to the Aviation Safety Network, 10 fatal crashes involving Indonesian military or police aircraft have occurred over the last decade.

The Indonesian air force has now lost four C-130s, reducing its transport reach in an archipelago that stretches more than 5,000km from its western to eastern tips.

The air force has grounded the remaining eight C-130Bs until investigators discover the cause of the crash.

The transport plane accident could bring pressure on the President to spend more on modernising the air force.

http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/indonesias-president-calls-for-review-of-air-force-fleet-after-deadly-plane-crash

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Death toll from #Indonesia military plane crash rises to 141: Officials http://bit.ly/1g9sZhk 

MEDAN, Indonesia (AFP, REUTERS) – The death toll from the crash of an Indonesian air force transport plane in the city of Medan has risen to 141, police said on Wednesday.

“We have received 141 bodies,” Mr Agustinus Tarigan, a police official at a hospital in the city, told AFP. The plane crashed and exploded in a ball of flames in a residential area of the western city on Tuesday, heavily damaging buildings and reducing cars to flaming wrecks.

The air force revised up the number of people on board the plane to 122, including 12 crew. Previously they said there were 113 people on the aircraft.

http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/113-people-on-crashed-indonesian-military-plane-feared-dead-air-force

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The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine military aircraft that can use even rudimentary runways for takeoffs and landings. It is currently the principal tactical airlifter for a lot over 60 nations worldwide, and there are 40 different models of the heavy-duty plane currently in service.

The age and condition of the US-manufactured planes sold across the region raise major safety concerns, according to retired Pakistani general Talat Masood.

‘US should sell only those planes which are also supposed to be used in European countries and the Western world. They can’t sell one type of planes in countries like Indonesia and other planes to the others,’ he told RT.

http://rt.com/news/270601-plane-crash-medan-indonesia/

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Aftermath of deadly Hercules C-130 crash in Medan, Indonesia (VIDEO) http://on.rt.com/e83oxq 

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30 June 2015

The number of people on the plane is not 113 but 122.  It crashed into a small hotel and a massage parlour.

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Medan (Indonesia) (AFP) – At least 116 people were killed Tuesday when an Indonesian air force transport plane crashed into a major city shortly after take-off and exploded in a fireball, officials said.

Buildings were left in ruins and cars reduced to flaming wrecks when the Hercules C-130 came down in a residential area of Medan, a city of two million on the island of Sumatra.

Air force chief Agus Supriatna said the manifest showed there were 113 people on board the plane — 12 crew and 101 passengers — when it crashed, and he did not believe any had survived.

“No, no. No survivors, I have just returned from the site,” he told AFP in answer to a question.

So far 66 bodies had been pulled from the debris and brought to a hospital in Medan, said a Red Cross official helping in the recovery effort.

Many passengers were likely to be family members of servicemen and women, said a spokesman for Medan airbase from where the plane departed. At least one child has so far been confirmed killed.

The local search and rescue agency also said that three people were killed on the ground when the 51-year-old plane went down near a newly built residential area, hitting a massage parlour and a small hotel.

Police said rescuers were still trying to get into the ruined massage parlour, a three-storey building, and they did not know whether there were people inside.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/28620486/at-least-116-feared-dead-in-indonesia-military-plane-crash-officials/

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MEDAN, Indonesia (AP) — An Indonesian air force transport plane carrying military personnel and their families plowed into a residential neighborhood in the country’s third-largest city of Medan shortly after takeoff on Tuesday, killing more than 70.

Rescue teams were using heavy machinery to remove the mangled wreckage of the C-130 Hercules as they searched the rubble of a building shattered by the impact.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ea53ca5bb635452f94aca6aeec0e20e4/indonesian-military-transport-plane-crashes-medan-5-dead

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Crashed Indonesian military plane had 113 on board, air force spokesman says http://bit.ly/1IJCZEG 

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Dozens dead as military plane crashes in northern #Indonesia http://youtu.be/UMj2THBM6kg 

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