On September 26, 1997, Flight 152, piloted by Hance Rahmowiyogo, crashed into mountainous woodlands from Medan during low visibility caused by the 1997 Southeast Asian haze. All 234 passengers and crew were killed in the disaster. Rahmowiyogo, age 42, had over 20 years of flying experience at Garuda Indonesia and over 12,000 flying hours. The crash site was in a ravine near the village of Buah Nabar in the Sibolangit district south of Medan.