MEDAN, Indonesia (AP) – The death toll from the crash of an air force transport plane in Indonesia jumped to more than 140 on Wednesday, as officials confirmed a bigger-than-previously-reported passenger list and a growing number of victims from the neighborhood where the plane went down.
North Sumatra police major A. Tarigan told TVOne that 141 bodies have been recovered from the rubble of a residential area in Medan city where the C-130 Hercules crashed shortly after takeoff on Tuesday. The death toll was 74 overnight.
The air force says 122 people were on board, including military personnel and their families. Officials don’t expect any survivors from the plane.
Initially, the air force had said only 12 crew were on the plane but had not said how many else were on it. It then repeatedly raised the numbers of passengers, indicating lax controls and raising questions whether it was accepting paying passengers despite previous promises to crack down on the practice. Hitching rides on military planes to reach remote destinations is common in Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago that spans three time zones.
The crash of the aircraft, which had been in service since 1964, occurred only two minutes after it took off from Soewondo air force base in Medan on Sumatra, one of Indonesia’s main islands. It plowed into a building that local media said contained shops and homes.