Posted by By Kenneth Ehigiator on
THE Federal Government is offering financial inducement to residents of Lisa, Ogun State, to ensure the recovery of the black boxes of Bellview Airline's Boeing 737-200 which crashed in the village.
LAGOS - THE Federal Government is offering financial inducement to residents of Lisa, Ogun State, to ensure the recovery of the black boxes of Bellview Airline's Boeing 737-200 which crashed in the village.
Meanwhile, repairs of the runway 18R (right) have been completed.
Aviation Minister, Prof. Babalola Borishade, who dropped this hint at a briefing in Lagos yesterday, also spoke of President Olusegun Obasanjo's resolve at getting to the roots of the cause of the crash which claimed 117 lives.
The Accident Investigation and Prevention Bureau (AIPB) of the Aviation Ministry had, weekend, made public its inability to find the two black boxes, even with the conclusion of investigation at the crash site.
'We have asked that the villagers be given some inducements in case they found the black boxes. The villagers might have picked them not knowing what they are and thinking they will be of use to them. We have also sent people to present a prototype of the black boxes to the villagers for them to know what they look like," said Prof. Borishade, who noted that the black boxes, if not found, would not impede investigations other than prolonging it.
Explaining the circumstances that might have led to the black boxes being missing, he said they might have fallen off and picked by the villagers or destroyed by the impact of the crash.
The black box, which is a device that contains the last 30 minutes of communication between a pilot and the control towers could hardly be damaged by any adverse condition or tough circumstance.
The minister said the report of the investigation would not be made available for public consumption whenever it was ready but noted that where it was made public, the cause of the crash would not be of public knowledge.
Prof. Borishade said the investigators who were invited from the US had returned to America with parts of the aircraft for forensic analysis, adding that the investigators would use experience of the past to recreate what happened since the pilots who could have given a clue as to the cause of the crash was dead.
On runway 18L which had been undergoing repairs since last month, Prof. Borishade said work on it was completed yesterday as directed by President Obasanjo.