Indonesian military plane crashes in city; 116 dead

Medan (Indonesia): At least 116 people are feared dead after an Indonesian air force transport plane crashed on Tuesday into a major city shortly after take-off and exploded in a fireball, officials said.

Buildings were left in ruins and cars reduced to flaming wrecks when the Hercules C-130 came down in a residential area of Medan, a city of two million on the island of Sumatra. Air force chief Agus Supriatna said the manifest showed there were 113 people on board the plane -- 12 crew and 101 passengers -- when it crashed, and he did not believe any had survived.

"No, no. No survivors, I have just returned from the site," he said in answer to a question.

So far, 49 bodies had been recovered and taken to hospital, he said. Many passengers were likely to be family members of servicemen and women, said a spokesman for Medan airbase, where the plane took off. At least one child has so far been confirmed killed.

The local search and rescue agency also said that three people were killed on the ground when the 51-year-old plane went down near a newly built residential area, hitting a massage parlour and a small hotel. A rescue operation swung into action, with ambulances ferrying bodies from the site, and crowds of anxious residents gathering around a police cordon to view the smouldering wreckage. Residents of Medan described the terrifying moment just after midday when the plane came down.