Indonesian plane skids off runway on holiday island

A passenger jet skidded off the runway as it landed at a holiday island in central Indonesia, a spokesman said Wednesday, just weeks after the deadly crash of an AirAsia jet in the archipelago.

None of the 33 people on board were hurt when the turboprop jet belonging to Indonesian flag carrier Garuda slid about 10 metres (33 feet) off the runway into the grass at the airport on Lombok island, said the spokesman.

The ATR 72-600 plane was arriving from the neighbouring island of Bali, also a popular holiday destination, when the accident happened on Tuesday evening.

Garuda

The Garuda aircraft lies off the runway at the airport on Lombok island on Wednesday. The ATR 72-600 plane was arriving from Bali when the accident happened on Tuesday evening. - AFP Photo

"All the people on board -- 29 passengers including a baby, and four crew members -- are safe and unhurt," spokesman Ikhsan Rosan told AFP.

Everyone on the plane was able to disembark using the normal stairs, he said. News website Detik reported that the airport was closed after the accident but reopened for smaller aircraft on Wednesday.

It was the latest accident to hit the aviation sector in Indonesia, adding to concerns that safety standards are failing to keep pace as the vast archipelago's skies become increasingly crowded.

An AirAsia plane crashed into the Java Sea on December 28 during what was supposed to be a short flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, killing all 162 people on board.

The Garuda accident came the day before a TransAsia Airways plane -- also an ATR 72-600 -- clipped a road bridge and plunged into a river outside Taiwan's capital, leaving at least 16 dead.