Air France flight crashes with 228 aboard

Relatives and friends of Air France flight AF447 passengers leave a crisis center at the Tom Jobim International airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, today. - Reuters pics

PARIS—An Air France plane with 228 people on board was presumed to have crashed into the Atlantic Ocean today after hitting heavy turbulence during a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

The airline offered its condolences to the families of the passengers, making clear it did not expect to find survivors.

At least 60 of those on board were French, roughly 60 were Brazilians and two were Slovaks, their countries said.

Air France said the Airbus flew into stormy weather four hours after take-off from Brazil and soon afterwards sent an automatic message reporting electrical faults.

A company spokesman said several of the plane’s mechanisms had malfunctioned.

“It is probably a combination of circumstances that could have led to the crash,” he said, adding that the airliner might have been hit by lightning.

Aviation experts said lightning strikes on planes were common and were not enough alone to explain a disaster.

The Brazilian air force said the plane was far out over the sea when it went missing.

Military planes took off from the island of Fernando de Noronha off Brazil’s northeast coast to look for it and the Brazilian navy sent three ships to help in the search.

France sent one of its air force planes from west Africa.

Flight AF 447 left Rio de Janeiro yesterday at 7pm (6am today, Malaysian time) and had been expected to land at Paris’s Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport today at 11.15am (5.15pm).

STORM PATCH

File Photo of an Airbus A330-200 similar to the Air France plane which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean today, a few hours after leaving Rio de Janeiro.

On its flight northeast from Rio, the jetliner would have had to pass through a notorious storm patch shifting around the equator known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone.

“It is a zone in the tropics where you can have particularly deep thunder clouds,” said Barry Gromett, a meteorologist at the London Weather Centre.

The carrier said 216 passengers were on board, including seven children and one baby, as well as 12 crew members.

The passenger list was not released, but French tyre company Michelin said the head of its Latin American operations, Luis Roberto Anastacio, had been on the flight.

Tearful relatives and friends were led away by airport staff after they arrived at Roissy expecting to greet the passengers.

About 20 relatives of passengers also arrived at Rio’s Galeao airport today morning seeking information.

Bernardo Souza, whose brother and sister-in-law were on the flight, complained he had received no details from Air France.

“I had to come to the airport, but when I arrived I just found an empty counter,” he said.

Senior French government minister Jean-Louis Borloo ruled out the possibility of a hijacking.

“It’s an awful tragedy,” he told France Info radio.

If no survivors are found it will be the worst loss of life involving an Air France plane in the firm’s 75-year history.

The plane was an Airbus 330-200 powered with General Electric engines. If the plane is confirmed to have crashed, it would be the first time an A330 has been lost during an operational airline flight.

Air France said the plane had 18,870 flight hours on the clock and went into service in April 2005. It last underwent maintenance in a hangar in April this year.

The last major incident involving an Air France plane was in July 2000 when one of its Concorde supersonic airliners crashed just after taking off from Paris, bound for New York.
All 109 people on board were killed along with at least four on the ground. – Reuters

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Manohara's escape gets all attention

Manohara Odelia Pinot is kissed by her mother on arrival at their Jakarta home on Sunday. — AFP picture

TEENAGE US-Indonesian model Manohara Odelia Pinot was on the front pages of almost all the local newspapers yesterday.

The 17-year-old wife of Kelantan prince Tengku Temenggong Tengku Muhammad Fakhry Petra, who reportedly escaped from her husband in Singapore and returned to Jakarta, had also made the top news of the 10 private TV stations, detailing how she had been physically and sexually abused by her husband.

The nation was riveted by the beauty's account of how she ran away from her husband while in a hotel in Singapore with the help of the Singapore police, the US and Indonesian embassies.

The drama unfolded on Saturday when her mother, Daisy Fajarina, came to Singapore in an attempt to take her home.

According to Manohara, when the Kelantan royal family found out her mother was coming, they decided to shorten their trip there.
The royal family was in Singapore to visit the sultan of Kelantan, who was undergoing medical treatment.

Manohara alleged that members of the royal family also tried to lock her in a room in the hotel to prevent her from seeing her mother.

"But I kept on pressing the emergency bell of the hotel lift until the Singapore police came to my help," Manohara said in an interview with Global TV.

"The police said they could not hold me against my will as it was a violation of my rights," Manohara added in the interview, in which she spoke in English and Indonesian.

The police took Manohara to a room and her mother arrived shortly afterwards. Both mother and daughter flew back to Jakarta early on Sunday morning and held a press conference several hours later.

During the press conference, Manohara could be seen crying several times as she replied to reporters' questions.

"I was treated like a toy," Manohara reportedly said.

She also claimed her husband once slashed her on her chest with a razor.

"I have taken photos (of myself) with my Blackberry. My Blackberry has no SIM card but I can still take pictures.

"I don't love him any more. I want a divorce," she told Global TV.

Manohara also claimed she was injected with tranquillisers several times when she protested against the way she was treated.

Manohara said she would be undergoing a medical check-up before deciding her next course of action.

Indonesia's Foreign Ministry confirmed the US and Indonesian embassies were involved in helping Manohara return to Jakarta.

"She (Manohara) is eligible for help from the US government because she has US citizenship," said a Foreign Ministry spokesman.

Meanwhile, the Comptroller of the Kelantan Royal Household, Datuk Abdul Hamid Hamad, refused to comment, saying he had not been instructed to issue any statement on the matter. (NST)

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PKR Dr.Mansor wins, heads for DCM office

PENANTI—Dr. Mansor Othman is the new state representative of Penanti and Deputy Chief Minister (DCM) of Penang after winning today's by-election, a whopping 6,052 out of the total of 7,100 votes.

His closest rival was Nai Khan Ari, an independent who received just 494 votes while Aminah Abdullah took 392 votes.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said that Mansor would be sworn in on Wednesday morning so that he can attend the weekly state executive council meeting.

A lower turnout and missing names from electoral rolls marked the sure PR victory at the close of a by-election campaign called ‘uninspiring’ due to Barisan Nasional’s (BN) absence.

But ultimately PKR and PR were the winners as it has now successfully removed a troublesome politician in Fairus Khairuddin who was forced to quit as assemblyman and deputy chief minister because of graft allegations.

The lower voter turnout today showed however that clearly by-election fatigue had set in.

The final turn out today was 7,100 voters. The reduced interest in voting is likely due to BN supporters not coming out to vote in the by-election as their party is not contesting.

BN leaders have called the by-election frivolous and part of a political game and can now use the low turnout as ammunition to say that it is a sign of protest from the voters.

Fairus won 7,346 votes in his electoral debut in Election 2008, winning by a majority of 2,219 against BN’s Datuk Abdul Jalil Abdul Majid.

The double Masters lawmaker said he resigned to further his studies, prompting BN to boycott what it called an uncalled-for by-election.

Mansor, a Yale graduate and a former academic, is expected to be named DCM I after his victory against Aminah, former Gerakan member Nai Khan Ari and Kamarul, who had earlier lost his deposit in the Bukit Gantang vote.

This is the sixth by-election since Election 2008. BN has not won in any of the four previous by-elections in Peninsular Malaysia, only winning in Batang Ai in Sarawak.

Another by-election will be held in the rural Kelantan state seat of Manek Urai on July 14 after its five-term assemblyman Ismail Yaacob from PAS died on May 22.

Earlier PKR said they received ten complaints from voters who found out they were transferred to the Permatang Pasir ward as turnout came in lower than the party’s target of 65 per cent.

The Election Commission (EC) said total voter turnout was 46.15 per cent or 7,100 when polls closed, against the 82.13 per cent in Election 2008. Police said polling was trouble-free.

PKR Penang secretary Lim Boo Cheng said the voters had verified being from the Permatang Pauh parliamenatary constituency but he was unsure if they – one Malay and nine Chinese – had previously voted in Penanti.

PKR election director Saifuddin Nasution earlier today stuck to his forecast of a 65 per cent turnout as the party moved election workers to encourage more to come out and cast their votes.

Voting began at 8am and closed at 5pm in the semi-rural state seat within the PKR political fortress of Permatang Pauh held by its de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Despite Barisan Nasional’s boycott, PKR has focused on the federal government’s rule and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s performance in its nightly ceramahs, saying a bigger majority will underscore the people’s ire against the ruling coalition.

PKR’s Dr Mansor, who has lost in three elections, faced three independents in a by-election that was his to lose.

Mansor told reporters outside the Guar Perahu polling station that the turnout is “very low” when asked about the roughly 30 per cent turnout by noon. He however hoped things pick up after 2 pm.

He earlier claimed to have received up to eight reports of voters finding their names missing from the Penanti electoral rolls during his rounds at the polling centres.

Voters said the EC had transferred them out of the state seat in the latest electoral roll dated April 16.

Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng, who visited polling stations with Mansor and DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang, rapped the EC and called it a conspiracy to sabotage Penanti voters.

EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof later denied any conspiracy, blaming the voters for not checking the rolls ahead of the by-election.

“They should have checked. This is all the last minute mentality but if we get many complaints, we will probe,” Abdul Aziz told reporters while visiting the polling centres.

He added that 90 per cent of electoral regulations had been met but said voter turnout was still low.

This was seen in both the Berapit and Teluk Wang polling centres. Independent candidate Nai Khan Ari cast his vote in Teluk Wang and told reporters he hoped Penanti voters would give him a chance to represent them.

But turnout at the SMK Guar Perahu polling centre, where PKR lost to BN in the last polls, was high with nearly 400 votes cast at noon.

A PKR election voter claimed that 80 per cent of those going in were the party’s supporters.

Police mounted tight security and deployed Light Strike Force units armed with batons and shields outside the polling centres where most voters trickled in.

Polls observers said the heavy police presence was unnecessary and is seen as intimidating apart from defying international norms.

However, police have been putting in extra policemen for the by-elections which has ramped up government costs, a reason cited by the BN to skip the Penanti vote.

For this by-election, Mansor and four independents – Aminah Abdullah, Mohd Saberi Osman, Nai Khan Ari and Kamarul Ramizu Idris – had filed their nomination papers on May 23 but Saberi was disqualified as PKR proved he was a bankrupt.

Aminah said after the results were announced that the low voter turnout showed voters were now rejecting PR.

Nai said he did not expect to lose.

PKR’s greatest challenge had been Aminah, its former Penang Wanita chief, who claimed the party had tried to bribe her RM80,000 to quit the race or offered her the deputy chief minister I post if she rejoined upon victory.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) are investigating her claims.

Police are also investigating its own reports that DAP strongman Lim Kit Siang and PKR’s Padang Serai MP N. Gobalakrishnan had committed sedition and criminal defamation for linking Najib to the Perak power grab and the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder during the election campaign.

The police had banned both topics in ceramahs at the Bukit Gantang parliamentary by-election last month but the opposition had defied them.

“In Najib’s Malaysia, speaking truth has become sedition criminal defamation. Darkness descending on Malaysia. Malaysians must not be cowed,” Kit Siang said after the police took his statement in his Island Glades home. (TMI)

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