Riau Airport to Install CCTV Cameras After Stowaway Incident, Investigation Launched
[Updated at 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday, April 8, 2015, to add information from the Ministry of Transportation]
Jakarta. Authorities at Sultan Syarif Kasim II International Airport in Pekanbaru plan to install CCTV cameras on the runway after a man crawled into the wheel well of a Jakarta-bound Garuda Indonesia flight on Tuesday afternoon.
Mario Steven Ambarita, 22, slipped past airport security and clambered aboard the Boeing 737-800 before it took off from Riau province, surviving freezing temperatures as the plane flew tens of thousands of meters in the air.
Authorities from Roesmin Nurjadin Air Force Base, which shares the runway and airport space with Sultan Syarif Kasim II airport, said they were reviewing airport security following the incident.
“After what happened, we will evaluate the airport security protocols. We plan on installing CCTVs on the runways,” Roesmin Nurjadin chief Col. M. Khairil told news portal Detik.com on Wednesday.
Khairil said the CCTV systems were considered necessary for safety and airport security.
The response may not be enough for the Ministry of Transportation, however, which has launched an inquiry into the incident.
Suprasetyo, director general of air transportation at the ministry, said he had instructed state-owned airport operator, Angkara Pura II, to investigate the matter and impose appropriate sanctions on airport officers who were responsible.
"The Angkasa Pura II director is to rotate the responsible general manager and security officers of the airport," Suprasetyo told a press conference on Wednesday.
The ministry will form a team to investigate the security weak points that allowed Mario to crawl into the wheel well.
Mario was reportedly found dazed and staggering by Soekarno-Hatta staff and was assessed at the airport clinic.
"The man was running out of oxygen, his fingers were blue and his ears were bleeding," Garuda Indonesia spokesman Pujobroto said.
Pujobroto said the airplane had been flying at 34,000 feet above the earth surface.
"The temperature at 16,000 feet usually reaches the freezing point so you can imagine what the man must have experienced during the flight," Pujobroto said.
After receiving medical treatment, Mario underwent questioning by police, whom he reportedly told he climbed on the flight to see President Joko Widodo in Jakarta.
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