2 Japanese survive Garuda crash

The Straits Times, March 7, 2007


TOKYO - Two Japanese nationals survived the crash of an Indonesian plane which burst into flames on landing on Wednesday, officials said.

Japanese embassy officials in Indonesia were attending to a businessman and a tourist who escaped the flames that engulfed the Garuda jet, a foreign ministry spokesman said.

'The plane entered into landing position and then suddenly dived. I thought it was all over for me,' said Mr Shinji Ito, 45, an employee of electronics giant Sony Corp.

'But then it bounced and plummeted into a rice paddy. In just a few seconds, flames erupted and I escaped from the back,' Mr Ito told Japanese broadcaster NHK by telephone.

The foreign ministry identified the other Japanese survivor as 31-year-old tourist Kenji Yamada.

Sony Corp. said four of its employees, including Mr Ito, were on board the Garuda Indonesia plane from Jakarta that caught fire on landing at Yogyakarta airport.

Sony was still trying to verify the whereabouts of its three locally hired employees, a company spokesman said in Tokyo. -- AFP