Seventeen of 117 people on board of a Boeing 737-200 which crashed at a residential area in Medan, capital of North Sumatra province of Indonesia, survived from the disaster, a local official told Xinhua by telephone.

"There are 117 people on board, 17 of them survived," said Edy Sofyan a spokesman of the provincial government.

He said that the survivors were hospitalized in a local hospital of Adam Malik.

Mandala's director Asril Tanjung said the cause of the tragedy was being investigated.

The plane was carrying 112 passengers and five crews.

The plane crashed into the central of a major residential area in Medan, breaking into pieces, setting fire to homes, cars and motorbikes, according to local television.

The director said the plane had been made in 1981 and was fit for eight more years of flying.

The plane came down 500 meters from the runway in Medan, Indonesian Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa said.

A few hours after the crash, heavy rain began to fall, hindering recovery efforts.

Indonesia's worst air crash occurred in September 1997, when a Garuda Airbus A-300B4 crashed in a mountainous area near Medan, killing all 222 passengers and 12 crew on board.

Source: Xinhua