| Plane Crashes Trotro; Kills 12 At Hajj Village
The Allied Cargo plane that crushed the vehicle A Nigerian registered cargo aircraft on Saturday evening overshot the Kotoka International Airport runway, hit the facility's perimeter fence and crash-landed near the El Wak Stadium after ramming a Daewoo taxi cab and a Benz 207 passenger bus, killing 10 passengers onboard the vehicle instantly. However, four crew members of the cargo plane survived the crash and were said to be receiving medical attention at the 37 Military Hospital. According to a Ghana News Agency report, the crew members were Nigerians. An air crash was certainly out of the question as such mishaps are not common in the country, they had thought. In another development yesterday, 162 passengers were killed when a DANA airline from Abuja to Lagos crashed into residential houses in Lagos. For those who lived in the vicinity of the airport, the unusual noise they heard when the aircraft hit the ground was ominous. An eyewitness who turned up after the crash said the dead were put in body bags and moved to the 37 Military Hospital morgue. The captain of the crew explained that the crash occurred after a technical problem involving the brakes on the aircraft, adding that he was sorry about the casualties involved in the accident. Two other persons on the ground, including a military officer who was riding a motor-bike, also perished. The freak accident in Ghana occurred when the Nigeria-based Allied Cargo Airline Boeing 727-200 aircraft, with registration number 5NBJN and laden with general goods, arrived from Lagos en route to Abidjan after a scheduled stopover in Accra. Four out of the 12 dead persons had been identified as Gideon Ansah Kumi, 19, a final-year student of Harvard Senior High School At Accra New Town; George Osei, 33, driver of the 207 bus; Kwame Boadu, 24, the mate; and Evans Tabariyeng, 34, a passenger on board the vehicle. After overshooting the runway at a terrific speed, it went through the facility's fence, hitting first a Daewoo taxi cab with registration number GR 4642-12, carrying the driver and a female passenger and then mangled the trotro vehicle with registration number GR 5471 Z. A doctor at the airport medical clinic near the runway said he heard "a loud bang and screeches" and then went outside, where he saw a plume of smoke rising from the accident scene. The relevant agencies, the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Armed Forces, National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Ghana Civil Aviation Authority and the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) all contributed immensely towards the management of the situation. |
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
Plane Crashes Trotro; Kills 12 At Hajj Village
