Toll climbs in Indonesia as desperate relatives try to reach disaster area

Officials carry body bags into a mass grave ahead of a mass funeral for earthquake victims in Palu on Oct. 1. (Bay Ismoyo/AFP/Getty Images)

October 1 -- The Washington Post

MAKASSAR, Indonesia — The pilot was preparing to take off on a remarkably clear, windy Friday evening. He had a bad feeling.

Ricosetta Mafella, the 44-year-old pilot of Batik Air Flight 6231, told his first officer, who had stopped to take photos of the scenic beachfront in Palu, Indonesia, to hurry back onto the aircraft. 

“I told them to do everything quick. I said let’s go,” Mafella said in an interview with The Washington Post. The door closed, and he began moving the plane at 5:52 p.m., three minutes before the scheduled departure time for a flight that’s usually a bit late.

Full story here.