JAKARTA, July 18: Twenty-seven people including all five crew members aboard a Dutch-built Sempati Air commuter plane were killed yesterday when the plane crashed near Bandung, the third largest city in Indonesia, police and airline officials said today.According to eye witnesses and police, an engine exploded and caught fire minutes before the Fokker 27 crashed near a housing complex. Twenty-three survivors were hospitalised, three of them in critical condition, airline officials said.Three residents of the housing complex were also injured by the flying debris, rescuers at the scene reported. The airline informed that all passengers aboard the flight were Indonesian with the exception of one injured passenger, who was from Singapore.Sudrajat, one of the survivors, said he saw fire and smoke spewing from the plane's left engine and heard several explosions. ``The pilot asked us to stay calm and said he would fly us back to the airport,'' The Jakarta Post quoted him as saying. Others on board also reported seeing smoke and flames on the left wing and said the plane shook violently before impact.Initial reports yesterday said as many as 33 were feared dead. But the toll was revised overnight.
