Yogyakarta

Indonesia has suspended the pilots of a jet that crash-landed and erupted in flames, killing 21 people, a report said on Saturday. The pilot, Marwoto Komar, and co-pilot, Gagam Saman Rohmana, have been "grounded" until the accident investigation is over, Yurlis Hasibuan, the head of the air transport directorate, told the <i>Republika</i> newspaper.

An Indonesian passenger jet overshot the runway and burst into flames on Wednesday as it landed in the cultural capital of Yogyakarta, but most of the 140 people on board survived. Dozens of passengers leapt from the national carrier Garuda Airline plane’s emergency exits into surrounding rice paddy fields to escape the inferno.

A powerful earthquake rocked Indonesia’s main island of Java on Saturday, killing at least 3 000 people, injuring thousands more and causing mass destruction. Many could not escape in time and were buried under the rubble of collapsed buildings or struck by flying rocks and debris as the temblor devastated towns and villages cities across the south of the island.

A powerful earthquake rocked Indonesia’s Central Java province early on Saturday, flattening buildings and killing at least 309 people, hospitals and officials said. Scores of other people were injured. The 6,2-magnitude quake also triggered heightened activity in the region’s deadly Mount Merapi volcano, which has been spewing out clouds of hot ash, gas and lava.