Terrified passengers were forced to swim to safety on Saturday, after a brand-new Boeing 737 carrying more than 100 people to the resort island of Bali missed the runway at Bali's Denpasar Airport, Indonesian and crashed into the sea.
The Lion Air passenger jet airliner missed the runway altogether as it came in to land in good weather conditions at around 3.45pm local time (0745 GMT), on Saturday, April 13, 2013, a transport ministry official is reported as stating.
"The aircraft was in landing position when suddenly I saw it getting closer to the sea, and finally it hit the water," said Dewi, an Indonesian woman who sustained head wounds in the crash. "All of the passengers were screaming in panic, afraid they would drown. I left behind my belongings and went to an emergency door. I got out of the plane and swam before rescuers jumped in to help me."
An air crash investigation is now under way.
Accident investigators have yet to establish the cause of Saturday's incident.
"It probably failed to reach the runway and fell into the sea," said Lion Air spokesman Edward Sirat. Harry Bakti Gumay, director-general of aviation at Indonesia's transport ministry, said the plane overshot the runway and fell into the sea from a height of about 50m.
(The usual disclaimers: I am not a journalist; This is a blog that expresses an outlook and is not conclusive in any shape or manner.)
