At least 30 dead after military plane crashes in Indonesia
Indonesian police and military officials secure the crash site of a Hercules plane in Medan, North Sumatra province on June 30, 2015 (AFP Photo/Muhammad Zulfan Dalimunthe)An Indonesian military transport plane crashed into a hotel and houses in the northern Sumatra city of Medan on Tuesday, killing at least 30 people, an official said.
"The latest information we have is that 30 have died…. The number could go up," Hisar Turnip, a spokesman for Indonesia\’s search and rescue agency, told Reuters. It was not immediately clear how many of the victims were in the plane or on the ground.
The plane was on its way from an air force base in Medan to the remote Natuna islands and crashed a few minutes after takeoff.
Dramatic pictures on social media showed large crowds and emergency services gathering around the flaming wreckage, with the fuselage of the aircraft visible among thick plumes of black smoke. Buildings in the vicinity of the crash zone were also clearly damaged.
The plane took off 12:08 pm (0508 GMT) from an air force base and crashed in the city about two minutes later about five kilometres (three miles) from the base, he said.
SOURCE: Reuters and agencies
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