http://www.news.com.au
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21340164-2,00.html
"Australians trapped in fire-gutted jetliner"
By staff writers and wires
March 07, 2007 01:40pm
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Yogykarta Airport officials who did not want to be named said the Boeing 737-400, believed to be carrying 140 passengers, caught fire three minutes before landing at 7am local time (1100 AEDT)."
ARTICLE SNIPPT: ""It is true that a plane caught fire while landing. It happened when it overshot beyond the runway and burst into flames," Yogyakarta provincial secretary Bambang Susanto said.
Local Islamic leader Dien Syamsudin said: "Before the plane landed it was shaking. Suddenly there was smoke inside the fuselage, it hit the runway and then it landed in a rice field.
"I saw a foreigner. His clothes were on fire and I jumped from the emergency exit. Thank God I survived."
Mr Syamsudin, the head of the second largest Islamic organisation in Indonesia, Muhammadiyah, had been due to meet Mr Downer in Yogjakarta today.
Australian Treasurer Peter Costello said the crash was a tragedy."
With Reuters, AFP, AAP
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http://www.foxnews.com
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,257183,00.html
(AP)
"Jetliner Catches Fire During Landing in Indonesia"
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
JAKARTA, Indonesia —
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "The Boeing 737-400 was carrying an undetermined number of Australian journalists and diplomatic staff who were in Indonesia with the country's foreign minister, said Australian Treasurer Peter Costello. The foreign minister was reportedly not on the plane."
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Muhammad Dimyati told the station he heard a blast as the plane landed. "I heard the sound of an explosion and ran through an emergency exit," he said. "I believe many passengers remained trapped on board."
Another passenger described spoke in the passenger compartment.
"Suddenly there was smoke inside the fuselage," said Dien Syamsudin, a local Islamic leader. "It hit the runway and then it landed in a rice field. ... I saw a foreigner. His clothes were on fire and I jumped from the emergency exit. Thank God I survived.""
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Thanks to RDTF for the ping to this thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1796382/posts
"Indonesian jet bursts into flames upon landing"
AFP on Yahoo ^ | 3/6/07 | AFP
Posted on 03/06/2007 4:58:18 PM PST by NormsRevenge
JAKARTA (AFP)
(SYDNEY, Australia) -- Nine man accused of Australia's largest terrorist conspiracy downloaded bomb-making instructions off the Internet and stockpiled chemicals to make lethal explosives because they believed Islam was under attack, a state prosecutor said Tuesday.
The nine were devotees of a radical Muslim cleric sympathetic to Osama bin Laden, and struck a pact to launch a terrorist attack because they felt their religion was under threat and needed to be defended at any cost, a pre-trial hearing heard Tuesday.
Excerpted
http://wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=6185949
3 rocket launchers seized in SW Pakistan
2007-03-07
ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan's Frontier Corps seized three 107 mm rocket launchers along with 17 shells from an area in southwest district of Pishin in Baluchistan province, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
The weapons had been dumped underground by unknown persons for sabotage purposes, said the report. No arrest was made in this regard.
Excerpted
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-03/07/content_5810410.htm
Lebanese police seize ammunition for rocket-propelled launchers
Mar 6, 2007
Beirut - Lebanese police seized Tuesday 25 rocket-propelled grenades in a mountainous area, south-east of Beirut. 'The ammunition, which were wrapped in plastic bags, were found by a villager in a field near Aitat,' - a mainly Druze village, a police source said. Police cordoned off the area and confiscated the weapons, the source said.
Excerpted
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1797077/posts
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/jet-sabotage-possible-pm/2007/03/08/1173166844816.html
"Aussie jet toll may rise"
March 8, 2007 - 11:28AM
Page 1 of 2 |
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "The DFAT spokeswoman this morning told theage.com.au that Indonesian authorities had revised the toll to 21 confirmed dead, down from 22. Of 140 passengers and crew on the flight, it is believed 118 survived. That leaves one more person unaccounted for."
ARTICLE SNIPPET: ""At this time, we understand that around 10 Australians were on board but stress that this number could change.''
Sabotage 'a possibility'
As Australian officials and medical experts head for the Indonesian city to help search for the missing and identify the dead, Prime Minister John Howard said foul play could not be ruled out as a cause of the crash.
"There is no evidence that I am aware of suggesting it was sabotage or a terrorist attack, but it's impossible for me to rule out anything," Mr Howard told ABC radio this morning.
Among the missing is Jakarta-based Australian Federal Police officer Brice Steele, one of Australia's most senior counter-terrorism experts, as well as AFP agent Mark Scott."