Merpati Flight Crew, Passengers Panic as Smoke Fills Bali-Bound Plane

Flight crew and passengers scurried for safety as thick smoke engulfed a Merpati MZ 6601 plane, which was scheduled to depart from the Selaparang Airport in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, to Denpasar, Bali, on Wednesday.

“The smoke was caused by a short circuit in the cockpit,” Lia Handayani, a Merpati Nusantara official, told members of the press at the Selaparang Airport on Wednesday. “Our technicians are looking into it.”

Widi Kurniawan, a passenger seated on the second row, told online news portal Kompas.com that he saw smoke coming out of the overhead air-conditioning unit at about 7 a.m..

He initially did not panic because he thought that it was only cold breeze. Ironically, it occurred just as the flight attendants were demonstrating the safety procedure when the plane was readying to take off.

Panic quickly spread among the passengers after the flight attendants started running out toward the emergency exits and smoke filled up the cabin.

“The passengers were panicking,” Widi said. “Children were screaming. A white man tried to break open the emergency exit, but it only opened after about 15 seconds.”

He added that some passengers jumped off the plane even while there was no direction from the flight attendants. “The flight attendants were nowhere to be seen, maybe because they were panicked too,” he said.

Merpati has confirmed that no passengers or crew members were injured in the incident. The passengers were to be flown to Denpasar using a different plane.

Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) said that they would verify the incident with Merpati. “We will do information verification first. We are still coordinating with the Directorate General of Air Transportation,” said JA Barata, the committee spokesman.

The KNKT would decide on whether to dispatch a team to Mataram after they receive complete information.(The Jakarta Globe)