Merpati Nusantara Boeing 737 crash in West Papua

by B. N. Sullivan

A Boeing 737-300 aircraft (registration PK-MDE) operated by Indonesia's Merpati Nusantara Airlines was seriously damaged in an accident at Rendani Airport, Manokwari, West Papua. No fatalities have been reported among the six crew members and 86 passengers on board, however at least 20 people were hospitalized with injuries. It was unclear if the injured were passengers or crew. [Update: The Aviation Herald reports that no crew members were injured.]

The accident occurred shortly before 11:00 AM local time on April 13, 2010 as the aircraft, operating as flight MZ-836, was arriving at Manokwari from Sorong, West Papua. News reports from Indonesia indicate that upon landing in poor weather, the aircraft overran the runway by several hundred meters. It came to rest in a river, with its fuselage broken in two.

An accident investigation team has been dispatched to the scene from Jakarta.

[Photo Source]

Merpati Nusantara Airlines Twin Otter missing in Indonesia

by B. N. Sullivan

A Merpati Nusantara Airlines DHC-6-30 Twin Otter (registration PK-NVC) has been declared missing by authorities in Indonesia after it failed to reach its destination yesterday. On the morning of August 2, 2009 Merpati Flight MZ9760D departed Jayapura, Indonesia for a scheduled passenger service to Oksibil. The flight never arrived at Oksibil and is presumed to have crashed.

The Jakarta Post, quoting Merpati official Capt. Nikmatullah, reported that there were two pilots, a mechanic, 11 adult passengers and two infants on board the flight. The names of the crew and passengers on Flight MZ9760D have been released by Merpati, and were published by the Jakarta Post.

A search for the aircraft was set to resume today after having been called off yesterday due to poor weather. No signal from the aircraft's emergency locator transmitter (ELT) has been detected.

UPDATE Aug. 4, 2009: News reports from Indonesia say that a search plane has spotted aircraft wreckage believed to be that of the missing Merpati Twin Otter. The wreckage is located near Abmisibil, in the Pegunungan Bintang district in Papua, according to the Jakarta Post. No word yet on the fate of the crew and passengers.

UPDATE Aug. 6, 2009: The Jakarta Post reports that search and rescue workers have reached the site of the crash of the Twin Otter in a mountainous area of Papua and have confirmed that there are no survivors.

[Photo Source]