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Ill-fated Hercules C-130 aircraft too old: VP
Deadly crash: Investigators inspect the wreckage of the crashed air force transport plane in Medan, North Sumatra, Wednesday
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Deadly crash: Investigators inspect the wreckage of the crashed air force transport plane in Medan, North Sumatra, Wednesday. The Hercules C-130 plane crashed into a residential neighborhood in the country's third-largest city on June 30. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara) (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)
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span class="inline inline-center">Deadly crash: Investigators inspect the wreckage of the crashed air force transport plane in Medan, North Sumatra, Wednesday. The Hercules C-130 plane crashed into a residential neighborhood in the country's third-largest city on June 30. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)
The government has admitted that the Hercules C-130 aircraft owned by the Indonesian Air Force, which crashed in Medan, North Sumatra, on Tuesday, was too old at over 50 years in age.
"It was an old aircraft, already 50 years, but it was about to undergo a retrofit. In all we now have 20 Hercules airplanes," Vice President Jusuf Kalla said on Tuesday as quoted by kompas.com.
There were 113 passengers on the Hercules C-130 aircraft that crashed into a residential area on Tuesday. All passengers as well as three local residents were feared dead in the tragedy.
According to Kalla, the Indonesian Military (TNI) started buying aircraft in the 1950s, and in the 1960s the Hercules airplanes started entering Indonesia.
With regard to compensation for the victims of the crash, Kalla said that military airplanes are not equipped with insurance.
Nevertheless, the government expressed condolences over the incident.
According to the latest data on the disaster, scores of soldiers fell victim in the crash, which was believed to have been caused by technical problems.
TNI spokesman Maj. Gen. Fuad Basya said that the Hercules C-130, which crashed on Jl. Jamin Ginting, was made in the US in 1964.
The plane went down two minutes after taking off from the Soewondo military airbase, heading for Tanjung Pinang, Riau Islands, to transport logistics to a number of Air Force air bases. (hhr)(++++)
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