Jet forced to land after losing cabin pressure

updated 10:03 a.m. ET Sept. 24, 2007

JAKARTA, Indonesia - An Airbus jetliner operated by an Indonesian carrier was forced to land Monday after losing cabin pressure, a spokesman said.

The Batavia Air flight with 134 passengers diverted to the Sumatran city of Padang, several hundred kilometers (miles) from its destination, Batavia Air spokesman Anton Situmeang said.

No one was hurt and passengers were transferred to another Batavia Air plane that took off 90 minutes later for the regional capital of Medan.

"Due to causes we are still trying to uncover, there was a pressurization problem," he said. "Oxygen masks were dropped automatically and the pilot had to divert the plane."

The 10-year-old Airbus A-320 was flown back to Jakarta without passengers for technical examination, the spokesman said.

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Indonesia is trying to improve its safety image after three plane accidents this year prompted the European Union to blacklist all its airlines. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration also downgraded the nation's rating to its lowest category.

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