Rogue Element

Sydney, 1230 Zulu, Friday, 1 May

ABC Radio 702: ‘In news just to hand, it has been announced by the Indonesian government that two survivors have been found at the crash site of the Qantas 747. The names of the two survivors, believed to be a man and a woman, have not been released. The survivors were found early this morning by an Indonesian air force rescue team flown in after the location of the site was revealed by a spy satellite.

‘The Indonesian government has invited Australian military and civilian aviation authorities to investigate the causes of the crash.

‘Qantas Flight QF-1 was bound for London via Bangkok when it disappeared from air traffic control screens three days ago. The flight was fully booked, and it is believed over four hundred people are likely to have perished in the tragedy. The majority of the flight’s passengers are thought to have been Australian, and Thai nationals returning from Australia. The crash brings to an end Qantas’s fatality-free safety record.

‘It is now believed that the location of the downed plane was known for at least twenty-four hours by several Indonesian military leaders, but withheld by them in the hope of embarrassing the Indonesian government prior to attempting a coup d’etat.

‘One of those implicated in the cover-up and failed coup was General Suluang, Commander in Chief of the TNI, the Indonesian army, who was found dead in a hotel room earlier today after committing suicide. His death has sparked further tensions between rival military factions in Jakarta where a standoff…’