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| A domestic airliner crashed in a busy
residential area of Indonesia's third biggest city just after take-off on
Monday, killing about 100 people aboard and 30 bystanders in an inferno on
the ground. (Photo: Xinhua) | JAKARTA,
Sept. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Indonesian Minister of Transportation Hatta Radjasa said
Monday evening the death toll inthe air crash earlier in the day has reached
149, comprising 102 passengers and 47 residents on the ground.
Hatta said in an interview with the Detikcom online
news service that the figure was based on various reports coming to him.
A Boeing 737-200 with 117 people onboard crashed into
a denselypopulated residential area minutes after take-off from the
PoloniaAirport in the North Sumatra capital of Medan earlier in the day.
Hatta said the government plans to move the Polonia
Airport to the quieter district of Kuala Namu following the accident.
"Tender for the Kuala Namu Airport will open this
year. We hopewe can build a new airport soon," he said from Medan.
The Chinese Embassy here confirmed that two Chinese
businessmenwere among the passengers perished in the disaster.
The two were identified as Xu Feng Chun and Xu Thien
Wu, residents of Putian county in Fujian province.
The embassy said families of the two victims have
been contacted and embassy officials will be immediately sent to Medan.Enditem
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