Garuda Indonesia fires Yogyakarta crash pilot

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Garuda Indonesia has fired the pilot of a plane that crashed in the city of Yogyakarta last year, killing 21 people, the head of the company's pilots association said Thursday.

Police have declared the pilot, Marwoto Komar, as a suspect in a criminal case of negligence following the fiery crash of the jetliner as he attempted to land it at Yogyakarta's airport on March 7.

A report by an Indonesian safety committee found that Komar had ignored 15 automatic warnings not to land the Boeing 737, which was carrying 140 passengers.

"Garuda discharged him as of December 31," said Stephanus, who heads the Garuda Pilots' Association.

Stephanus told AFP that his organisation had since sent repeated letters to Garuda's management demanding that the dismissal be reconsidered, but that no answer had been received so far.

Komar, who had been released from detention, on Thursday answered a Yogyakarta police summons for a further round of questioning there.

His lawyer, Kamal Firdaus, was quoted by the Detikcom online news website as saying that Garuda had allowed his client to either resign or be dismissed, and he had chosen the latter.

Garuda's spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment. (*) END

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