MALANGN (INDONESIA): An Indonesian air force plane crashed into a house on the main island of Java today, killing both people on board and two people in the house, a senior official said.
The plane was on a routine maintenance flight when it crashed near Abdul Rahman Saleh air force base in Malang, a hilly town in East Java province, said air force chief Air Marshal Agus Supriatna.
Supriatna said the pilot ejected from the Brazilian-made Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano plane before it crashed, but a technician failed to do so. The pilot was found dead near a rice field about 2 kilometers from his parachute, while the technician’s body was recovered from the plane’s cockpit, which was buried in the rubble of the destroyed house.
He said a man and a woman living in the house died while being treated at a hospital.
Air force officials had previously believed that the technician ejected before the plane crashed.
A neighbor who witnessed the crash, Slamet, told MetroTV that the plane appeared to be nose-diving out of control with smoke billowing from its tail when it crashed. Like many Indonesians, Slamet goes by a single name. (AGENCIES)
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