Rescuers evacuate 18 bodies in plane crash in Indonesia

Rescuers have evacuated all the 18 bodies, the victims of the plane crash in the remote jungle of Bahorok of North Sumatra on Thursday, Air Marshal Daryatmo, head of the national search and rescue agency said on Sunday. The CASA 212 aircraft operated by PT Nusantara Buana Airline lost contact on Thursday and was found hours later in the jungle, the rescuers confirmed on Friday that the pilot, co-pilot, two technicians and 14 passengers were all dead. Strong winds, unclear feasibility and geographical condition had hampered military officers and those from the search and rescue office in North Sumatra to reach the scene, said Daryatmo. By Sunday the rescuers finally could remove all the fatalities to Medan, capital of North Sumatra with helicopters, he said. "Thank to God, the evacuation of all 18 bodies has been completed," he said in a live interview with TV One. Four helicopters had been used to help over one hundreds military officers and tens of rescuers from the search and rescue office to carry out the evacuation, Air Marshal Sunarbowo Sandy, head of the rescue operation, told Xinhua by phone. Having known that none of the people on board survived, some family members waiting at the post in Medan complained about the rescue operation, according to the television. "They could have been alive should the rescuers have done it faster," said a family member of the victims. To prevent such accident in the future, the Indonesian Transport Ministry plans to strengthen surveillance on airliners and require them to intensify training, Director General of Air Transport of the Transport Ministry Harry Bhakti said. The Thursday's crash has brought the total air accidents this month in the country to four. "For the operators, they should pay more attention on the aspect of safety. We will boost the inspection which will be conducted by our inspectors at the fields, and training will be intensified," the director said. He said that the training would particularly be aimed at boosting the skill of pilots flying planes over mountainous areas, in which most of the recent air accidents in the country took place The Indonesian aviation industry had made progress on safety as it exited from the European Union travel ban in July 2009, but recently small scale air accidents have frequently happened, particularly in mountainous areas. Lacking of safety standards has been blamed for air crashes in Indonesia.