The visibility at the airport was only 1,500 meters, forcing Merpati to delay its flight from Medan to Dumai for five hours, Irvan, head of the Pinang Kampai airport, Dumai, Riau Province, said here Friday.
The delay was at the initiative of the plane`s pilot to prevent such a plane incident in Kaimana waters, West Papua recently.
"We at the Pinang Kampai airport this morning confirmed that the weather in Dumai was bad. After receiving the weather report, we informed Merpati. They later decided to postpone the flight schedule from Medan," he said.
Merpati planned to fly from Medan to Dumai when the visibility reached over 4,000 meters.
Spokesman of the Ministry of Transportation Bambang S Ervan said that a Merpati Nusantara Airlines M160 aircraft made in China had crashed in Papua province in bad weather, on May 7, 2011.
"When it happened the weather was bad and it was raining," Bambang said.
He said however that an investigation to determine the cause of the crash in which 27 people were killed was still being conducted.
"Confirmation of it is still pending the results of investigation by the National Committee of Transportation Safety," he said.
The plane was on the Nabire-Kaimana route.
"The ill-fated plane crashed when it was about to land and touched Runway 19 about 500 meters approaching the runway at around 2 pm local time," he said.
Bambang said evacuation was still being conducted and it was believed all of the passengers and crew had died. (*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
