Yogyakarta, March 7:

An Indonesian airliner with over 130 people aboard burst into flames and shot off the runway today after landing in Yogyakarta city, killing at least 23 people, officials said.

Witnesses and survivors described a horrific inferno that swept through the Boeing 737-400 of state carrier Garuda, with some lucky enough to walk away while others were trapped and burnt to death inside.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said four people from a party of Australian officials and journalists following his visit to Indonesia were among those unaccounted for. Downer was not on the plane. A local official put the initial death toll at 49. The airline later said it was 22 and the transport ministry then put it at 23. Garuda said 112 people came out alive, and that all but three had been injured.

There were also conflicting accounts from passengers of what went wrong as the plane came in to land at Yogyakarta, but the air force commander at the airport said the plane was going too fast.

Parts of the jet, including the wheels and wings, appeared to have been sheared off.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered an investigation into the cause of the crash, a spokesman said, while Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he had no reason to believe terrorism was involved.

But Howard told his country to prepare for “bad news” about the Australian passengers. “There were up to 10 Australians on board and not all of those have been accounted for,” he said.