The aircraft had departed Departing Palembang 80 minutes earlier and had been cleared Emptying for an approach to runway 05 at Medan Airport .

SilkAir Flight 185 was a scheduled SilkAir passenger flight operated by a Boeing 737-300 from Jakarta , Indonesia , to Singapore , that crashed Catastrophe into the Musi River near Palembang in southern Sumatra , on 19 December 1997 , killing Killing all 97 passengers and seven crew on board .