Posted by This Day on
Dr. Andy Ilabor, an indigene of Delta State who is also the Medical Director of Summit Hospital, Omoku Street, D/Line, Port Harcourt, lost three of his children in the ill-fated Sosoliso Airline flight 1145 that crashed Saturday afternoon at the Port Harcourt International Airport. Yesterday, he spoke to THISDAY on the disaster.
Dr. Andy Ilabor, an indigene of Delta State who is also the Medical Director of Summit Hospital, Omoku Street, D/Line, Port Harcourt, lost three of his children in the ill-fated Sosoliso Airline flight 1145 that crashed Saturday afternoon at the Port Harcourt International Airport. Yesterday, he spoke to THISDAY on the disaster.
He said, 'I went to the airport with my wife to pick the children and while on our way, the weather changed dramatically and we prayed that it would not affect the Sosoliso flight, which our children boarded.
'But on getting to the airport our worst fears were confirmed as we learnt that the plane had crashed. Three of my children, my first son, who would have been 16 years by January 2006, and two daughters died in the crash. The pain is indescribable. The accident shattered a very tall dream. The boy was very promising; so are the girls who would not stop calling daddy, daddy. Now I don't have anyone to call me daddy any more.
'The boy was one of the best 20 students in his class and won many laurels and was recently made a prefect in the school. We spoke with them on Friday and we were looking forward to a Christmas together. This is a blow the family can hardly recover from.
'I could only recognize my son by his toes; his whole body was completely mangled. I have buried the bodies of my son and my last daughter. The body of the first girl is still contentions between my family and the family of a friend who also lost a daughter in the crash. We have agreed to use DNA test to ascertain which family owns the body. But I have resolved to do a ceremonial burial for her. I cannot wait for up to the two weeks, which the test would take to be out. I want to end this whole sad story as soon as possible.
'I don't know how often this sort of thing happens, but last Saturday would remain the darkest in my entire life. For this crash to have come barely about two months after we suffered a Belview plane crash, and the children, innocent souls, 62 student from Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja, and a few other students from other schools and all the other adults who were on the flight. It is a terrible thing. It was a black Saturday for me and many other families. I don't know how often this happens but for me to lose three children, all that I have in one day, it is the darkest moment in my life. That again shows how these things go.