Posted by Lucky Fiakpa, Ndubuisi Francis and Chinedu Eze on
A Kenya Airways Flight KQ507, which disappeared shortly after take-off at Douala airport in Cameroun, has crashed, killing all 116 passengers including five Nigerians aboard. The identity of the Nigerians was not known as at press time.
A Kenya Airways Flight KQ507, which disappeared shortly after take-off at Douala airport in Cameroun, has crashed, killing all 116 passengers including five Nigerians aboard. The identity of the Nigerians was not known as at press time.
MTN Cameroun also lost five of its executives. They include the chief executive officer, Mr. Campbell Utton and four executives of the GSM operator.
The four executives include the Chief Finance Officer, Mrs. Njamfa and her husband, Mr. Patrick Njamfa and a network engineer, Mr. Patrice Ebam. Late Mr. Njamfa was company secretary to MTN Cameroun.
The Airline officials while confirming the accident yesterday gave the breakdown of the victims as follows: Cameroonians, 35; Indians, 15; Britons, five; six Chinese, six Ivorians and nine Kenyan crew members.
Two Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, nationals, three Nigerien, one Swiss, a Malian, one Togolese, two Central African Republic national, seven South Africans, two Swedes and an Egyptian were also among those killed in the crash.
The six -month old aircraft, a Boeing 737-800, also had on board one Ghanaian, one Comoros national, a Mauritanian national, one Congolese, one Tanzanian, three Burkinabes, and one American.
The plane had crashed on Friday night 45 miles South West of Yaoundé, the Cameroonian capital near a small town called Niete. It left Douala at about 00.05 (02.00am Nigerian time) and was due to arrive in Nairobi at 06.15 am local time.
Kenya Airways Managing Director, Titus Naikuni, told a news conference that the last communication with the aircraft was shortly after it took off before it lost touch with the control tower in Douala.
'A distress signal was picked up on the West Coast of Africa and a search and rescue mission was initiated by the Cameroonian authorities. So far no report has been received from this mission," he told journalists.
The search aircraft flew over the zone extensively at low altitude but did not locate the missing aircraft. The Kenya Airways country manager in Cameroun was part of the search team. The aircraft was later found near Niete. Poor weather was said to have hampered the rescue effort by Cameroonian Army Helicopters.
An international passenger information centre has been opened in South Africa where all questions can be addressed. The public inquiry number is +27 11 2071100. Also Kenya Airways Lagos office has released its Airport number +234 1 2711555 for people to contact the Airline for more information.
The last crash of an international Kenya Airways flight was on Jan. 30, 2000, when Flight 431 which took off from Abidjan, Ivory Coast, crashed on its way to Nairobi. Investigators blamed a faulty alarm and pilot error for that crash, which killed 169 people.
Kenyan Transport Minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere is leading a delegation from Nairobi to Douala to investigate the cause of the crash.
'We need to get information from the technical experts as to whether it was occasioned by the weather or pilot error or mechanical fault," he was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.
The government is saddened by the missing KQ aircraft. We have kept in touch with the
Cameroonian authorities and we have activated all rescue efforts. Key experts and officials are to undertake a mission to Douala," Kenyan government spokesman Alfred Mutu said.
Kenya Airways is one of Africa's most profitable carrier with 23 Aircraft. The fleet size includes four Brand new B777-300ER, 3 brand new B737-800, 6 B767-300ER, 4 B737-700, 4 B737-700. It has one of the youngest fleet in the world, the most modern in Africa and one of the largest fleet in Africa. Kenya Airways recently ordered 10 Boeing 787 Dreamliner