The Indonesian authorities Thursday offered reluctant response to the possibility that the missing passenger plane had exploded in the air.

 

The rumor grew after the finding of a horizontal stabilizer tail confirmed to be that of the Boeing 737-400 that went missing on Jan. 1 with 102 people onboard, while the remaining parts of the plane have not been found.

 

"I don't want to speculate about that," Transport minister Hatta Radjasa told reporters at Jakarta.

 

He left the issue for the National Commission for Transportation Safety (KNKT) to investigate. "You cannot say the plane exploded in the air, it takes further investigation," KNKT chairman Setyo Raharjo was quoted by leading news website Detikcom as saying.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 11, 2007)