Breaking News Update – Nine Australians aboard Garuda crash in Indonesia

Prime Minister John Howard told reporters in Melbourne this afternoon that Australians should prepare for bad news following today’s Garuda Indonesia aircraft crash, upon confirmation that nine Australians were aboard the Garuda flight from Jakarta when it exploded and burst into flames on landing and overshooting the runway at Yogyakarta airport this morning, killing at least 49 people.

Mr Howard also said that it was clear that several of the Australians had survived, but added, “But given the severity of the crash and the following fire, it’s a situation where we should be prepared for bad news.”

Mr Howard said it was obviously a great tragedy for all concerned, including those Indonesians involved, adding, “Our immediate focus of course is to properly confirm and identify the situation regarding the Australians who were on the aircraft and it’s important that before anything is said about individuals that we be absolutely certain that that information is correct, otherwise we are only compounding the distress that people will be feeling about what has happened.”

An Australian Federal Police remains identification team has also been offered by Mr Howard to Indonesia and it is know that air charter companies in Australia are preparing aircraft to fly a range of Australian support services to Yogyakarta this evening.

Mr Howard said he had authorised all necessary personnel, resources, aircraft and the like be made available to assist in the medical evacuation of survivors for treatment in Australia and that applied to Australians plus anyone else who needed that assistance, adding, “The Australian Defence Force (ADF) aero-medical evacuation team is being prepared in Darwin for departure by an RAAF C-130 aircraft and Darwin hospital is on stand-by to provide any necessary medical assistance and as you would be aware it is very well prepared for these sad eventualities.”

Mr Howard said an ADF medical assessment team and a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) emergency response team depart this evening aboard a RAAF Boeing 737 VIP transport aircraft for Indonesia.

Mr Howard said there were no reports the crash was caused by terrorism, adding, “I have not received any advice suggesting it was anything other than a tragic accident” and “”I don’t know the cause yet I can only say I have not received any advice suggesting that there was sabotage or a terrorist attack.”  “There would presumably be an investigation carried out by the Indonesian authorities and they will establish the cause of the accident.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer who in Jakarta will be taking take a charter flight to the crash site as soon as possible, with Mr Howard saying, “Mr Downer wants to go to Yogyakarta, his only constraint at present is the potential physical constraint of landing there because of the chaos caused by the accident and naturally he doesn’t want to place any undue strain on the Australian resources and thus divert any of them, however slightly, from the task in hand, but he will exercise his customary judgement in relation to that issue.”

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock will return to Australia on a commercial flight, Mr Howard said, leaving the government’s two Challenger aircraft in Indonesia for so long as it may be necessary to be there to assist.

Mr Howard added, that some of the Australians were personally known to him, but he declined to elaborate on them, saying he did not want to add to the distress of their families, saying that he was distressed by any injury to any Australian, particularly overseas, “”There’s something about the death of one of your fellow countrymen in a distant place that affects you a bit more.”  “It’s further affected when it’s related in some way to being on service for the country.…….I feel a particular responsibility for people who are in the defence forces, in the federal police, in the diplomatic service………and I also feel a connection with….the responsibility is different…..but a connection with the people who report news.

Up to the minute report by The Mole