Indonesia: Passenger planes collide on runway, catch fire

The fuel-laden left wing of the Batik Air plane caught fire after it hit TransNusa aircraft,

Two planes taxiing on the runway at Indonesia's Halim Perdanakusuma airport collided with each other, causing a fire that burnt down one of the plane's wings.

A Boeing 737-800 operated by Batik Air was taxiing when it came in the line of another plane, an ATR turboprop plane from TransNusa, on Monday evening.

The fuel-laden left wing of the Batik Air plane caught fire after it hit TransNusa aircraft, BeritaSatu TV reported.

The passengers and crew of the planes were immediately evacuated even as airport fie safety personnel worked on dousing the fire. The runway was closed to all flights until 10 pm.

"We still cannot determine whether the incident was caused by error from the ATC [air traffic controller], the [tow] operator, or the pilot," Airport operator Angkasa Pura II's corporate secretary Agus Haryadi said, according to the Jakarta Globe.

Officials at Batik Air said the air traffic controller had given the go-ahead for the plane to take off.

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