The chief of the country’s Transport Safety Commission said the Garuda Indonesia operated Boeing 737-400 plane bounced and skidded off the runway before bursting into flames.

“When the plane was about to land, it looked too high over the runway coming down with a quite high speed,” said Tatang Kurniadi.

“After touching the ground, the plane bounced twice and around exit delta the front wheel broke causing the plane to slide with the shock strut exposed,” he said.

Exit delta refers to a point on the runway. “This caused friction between metal and the runway igniting sparks,” he told a news conference. The commission’s statement said flight GA 200 approached the runway at a 40 degree angle.

Kurniadi said the investigation had not yet reached a conclusion so could not apportion blame.

The final report will take more than two months more to complete and it would only be issued publicly after parties related to the flight had received a copy, he said.

Survivors of the crash have described how the aircraft approached the runway in Yogyakarta at a “crazy” speed. It had 140 people on board when it overshot and then burst into flames.

Five Australians were among the casualties. They were part of the group who had been accompanying Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who was not on board the ill-fated plane, on a visit to Indonesia.

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