"It has been moved (from the accident site)," Commander of the Roesmin Nurjadin Airbase Commodore Henri Alfiandi stated here on Wednesday.
The body of the US-made fighter aircraft has been moved to the maintenance hangar of the Air Squadron No. 16 at the Roesmin Nurjadin Airbase, he noted.
General Manager of the Sultan Syarif Kasim (SSK) II Airport in Pekanbaru Jaya Tahoma Sirait remarked that the body of the ill-fated aircraft was moved from the scene at 2 a.m. local time on Wednesday.
"The process of moving the aircraft was completed at 2 a.m. local time on early Wednesday," he revealed.
The F-16/B Block 15 fighter jet skidded off the runway while it was landing at the Roesmin Nurjadin Airbase in Pekanbaru on Tuesday at 4:55 p.m. local time. The airbase and the SSK II Airport currently share the runway for both military and commercial operations.
The accident disrupted commercial flight schedules at the airport for nearly 45 minutes.
The two pilots of the ill-fated aircraft, identified as Major Andri Setiawan and 1st Lieutenant Marco Anderson, survived the accident.
A team of the Aircraft Accident Investigating Committee of the Indonesian Air Force Headquarters has been investigating to unearth the exact cause of the accident.
Even as the investigation is ongoing, the operations of F-16s of the Air Squadron 16, either for the ongoing combat training or air patrols, have been temporarily suspended, Commodore Alfiandi had stated earlier in the day.
The Roesmin Nurjadin Airbase is the only type-A airbase in Sumatra and has a squadron of F-16s and a squadron of Hawk 100/200s.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017
