Five Australians identified in Java plane crash

Jakarta, Mar 11: Forensics experts have identified the remaining victims of last week's plane crash in Indonesia as five Australians, officials said today.

National police spokesman Sisno Adiwinoto said the final death toll from the crash involving the Garuda Indonesia Boeing 737-400 at Yogyakarta's airport stood at 21.

The plane was carrying 133 passengers and seven crew when it crashed after a scheduled flight from Jakarta on Wednesday.

The dead Australians -- two policemen, a diplomat, a journalist and an aid official -- were part of a group that wanted to accompany Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer on a visit to Yogyakarta. The minister was not on board the Garuda airliner.

Downer told ABC television today the bodies would be flown back to Australia this week, mostly likely on Wednesday.

Australian experts have joined Indonesian crash investigators in probing the crash, and the plane's blackbox flight recorder and cockpit voice recorder have been sent to Australia.

The voice recorder contains the final 30 minutes of the pilots' chatter, while the flight data recorder should provide up to 25 hours of details on the aircraft's speed, altitude, engine thrust and flap settings.

Indonesian police have said early signs suggested human error.

Indonesia has suffered a string of transport accidents in recent months. An Adam Air plane disappeared in January with 102 passengers and crew on board, and a ferry sank in late December killing hundreds.

Reuters