JAKARTA, Indonesia – Rescuers today found the smoldering wreckage of an Indonesian jetliner that disappeared during a storm. Adam Air spokesman Hartono, who goes by just one name, said 90 people were killed and 12 survived in Monday’s crash of the Boeing 737-400.
The U.S. Embassy in Jakarta said three Americans were aboard, but there was no immediate word on whether they survived or on their identities.
“The plane is destroyed and many bodies are around there,” said local police Chief Col. Genot Hariyanto.
Air force rear commander Eddy Suyanto told el-Shinta radio that the plane – operated by local carrier Adam Air – had crashed in a mountainous region of Polewali in eastern Sulawesi Island.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people gathered at the airport in Manado seeking information about their relatives.
Justin Tumurang, 25, was waiting at the airport to pick up her twin sister, but she never arrived.
“Being a twin, we share almost every feeling. I felt something was not right, and it grew worse. Now I feel pain,” she said.
The 17-year-old plane carried six crew and 96 passengers, including 11 children. Contact was lost about an hour before it was due to land amid very bad weather, national aviation chief Ichsan Tatang said late Monday.
Weeks of seasonal rains and high winds in Indonesia have caused several deadly floods, landslides and maritime accidents, including the sinking of a ferry in the Java Sea just before midnight Friday that left at least 400 people dead or missing. The passenger ship capsized about 650 miles southwest of where the Adam Air plane disappeared, and naval ships and helicopters continued Monday to scour the choppy tropical waters for ferry survivors.
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