Hunt for clues to Indonesia crash

Possible causes include technical failure, human error and sabotage

Investigators are continuing to search the site in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, where a passenger plane crash-landed, killing 22 people.

The jet's flight data recorder has been found and investigators say technical failure may be the cause of the crash.

The state-owned Garuda airline, which operated the Boeing 737-400, confirmed that 118 people had survived.

Australia has offered medical help to deal with the aftermath and a disaster victim identification team is on site.

The Canberra government has also released the names of five Australians who are missing.

Officials are still searching local hospitals, although hope of finding them alive is fading.

The missing were part of a delegation of officials and reporters covering a visit to Indonesia by the Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, who was expected on the next flight.

Overnight Australia flew an emergency medical team to Indonesia, including Dr Fiona Wood, a burns expert who developed an artificial skin in the wake of the Bali bombings in 2002 and 2005.

'Too fast'

Flight GA200 crash-landed at about 0700 local time (0000 GMT) on Wednesday, about 440km (270 miles) south-east of the capital, Jakarta.

It got dark, objects started flying around, people started screaming Alessandro Bertellotti, survivor Press shaken by disasters Eyewitness: Indonesia crash

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono immediately launched an investigation to examine all possible causes, including technical failure, human error and sabotage.

Two members of the Royal Australian Airforce survived the crash and have spoken about their ordeal.

Both said the plane came in to land too fast and then bounced along the ground strengthening the suspicion, so far unconfirmed, that pilot error was to blame.

The only thing passengers could do, they said, was brace themselves for impact and then attempt to escape the flames that raced through the cabin.

The blaze took two hours to put out and gutted the jet.

Poor record

The operations chief at Yogyakarta airport said the front wheel of the plane was on fire as it landed, causing it to veer off the runway and hit a boundary fence.

... Flames were assisted by the intense fire caused by those oxygen packets that you can put over your face Robert Heath Crisis management expert In pictures: Indonesia crash Fear and panic at crash site

He said an engine had then broken away from the plane and the fuselage burst into flames. The aircraft came to rest in the middle of a rice field.

Crisis management expert Robert Heath from the University of South Australia said the fire may have been caused by a fuel tank being punctured on impact.

"Those flames were assisted by the intense fire caused by those oxygen packets that you can put over your face plus the amount of baggage that was stored in the upper structure," he said.

The BBC's Lucy Williamson in Jakarta says the incident also comes at a time when Indonesia's poor transport safety record is under the spotlight following a recent string of disasters.

In January an Adam Air plane, also a Boeing 737-400, disappeared with 102 passengers and crew on board, and in December hundreds died when a ferry sank in the Java Sea.