Victims Of Plane Crash Named

Ten people were killed by a cargo aircraft that skidded the runway at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) and crushed into a mini-bus near the El-Wak Stadium in Accra on Saturday. The aircraft, a Boeing 727-200 belonging to the Allied Air, which had taken off from Lagos in Nigeria, was carrying general goods, including textiles, perfume and clothing, from Nigeria to Cote d�Ivoire via Accra when the incident occurred about 7pm. On landing, the aircraft overshot the runway, went through the airport perimeter fence before crashing into a 207 Benz bus, with registration GE 5471 Z, on the 37 Military Hospital-Burma Camp Road, instantly killing all the 10 passengers and the driver. The deceased have been identified as Kennedy Hlordzi, 18; Kwame Boadu, 24; George Osei, 33 (the driver); Castro Abuchow, 26; James Yaw Norgbolo, 26; Gideon Ansah Kumi, 19; Mawuli Lavor, 22, and Evans Abanyel Tabanyeng, 34, a graduate student of the University of Ghana. Two other passengers, a male and a female, were yet to be identified as of press time yesterday. All the passengers were said to be going to Burma Camp from the 37 Military Hospital area. Two other people who were in a taxi which had been grazed by the aircraft on the El-Wak-Burma Camp road, however, escaped unhurt. All the four crew members of the aircraft survived the accident and are currently receiving treatment at the Airport Clinic, while the bodies of the dead have since been deposited at the 37 Military Hospital morgue awaiting autopsy. The conical front of the cargo aircraft was completely destroyed, the wings partly damaged, the giant tyres which had been released in readiness for landing were also dislodged, while other parts of the plane and the vehicle were scattered all over. It was a pathetic and emotional scene to behold as the mutilated bodies of the dead were scattered at the accident scene. Fear and emotion overcame many people who went to the scene to catch a glimpse of what had happened or offer a helping hand just in case their assistance was needed. Emergency teams, including the Ghana National Fire Service, the Ghana Armed Forces, the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and the National Security, swiftly responded to the emergency call and rushed to the scene of the crash to secure the place and prevent the possibility of further loss of lives. The many people who thronged the El-Wak Stadium shortly after incident made it very difficult for the security agencies to do their work, as they had to first control the crowd. The cause of the accident is yet to be confirmed, but aviation officials do not rule out the possibility that the runway became slippery because of rainfall or the braking system of the aircraft became faulty.