Mandala Airlines Boeing 737-230 plane crash

The aircraft crashed while performing a scheduled passenger flight from Medan-Polonia Airport to Jakarta. Shortly after takeoff from Medan, survivors reported that the Boeing began to shake violently, veered left, and crashed into a residential area about 500m off the end of the runway.

A failure of one engine could be the root cause of the crash said a transport safety official. "Preliminary investigations show a fuel problem on the engine" he said.

The 9 survivors were seated in the same row.