Malaysia News, "No Sabotage In Garuda Indonesia Crash"

The Indonesian police today confirmed no element of sabotage was found in the Garuda aircraft which crashed upon landing at Yoyakarta on Wednesday, killing more than 20 people while another 112 passengers were injured. In a statement issued today, the police said this was based on the findings by several quarters, including police forensic experts, the Indonesian National Commission on Transportation Safety and interviews with the pilots.

According to pilots, the indicators of equipment in the Boeing 737-400 were in good and normal working condition and there were also no physical signs like smoke, fire, explosion or physical disruption before it crashed about 7am after flying for about 55 minutes from Jakarta. "So far, there is no element of sabotage, terrorist attack or bomb which could have caused the mishap of the GA 200 flight," said the statement.

Meanwhile, investigations on technical matters were being conducted by experts from the commission while the aircraft black box had been sent to Canberra, Australia, last Thursday. In a related development, Indonesia will tighten regulations on its aviation industry, especially on passenger flights, following several tragedy involving aircrafts in the republic since the first three months of the year. Indonesian Vice-President Mohamed Jusuf Kalla hoped that the move would prevent accidents involving Indonesian aircraft.