The Nation Newspaper

Tag: plane crash

  • FG commiserates with South Korea over plane crash 

    FG commiserates with South Korea over plane crash 

    The federal government has extended its condolences to the Government and People of the Republic of Korea following the tragic crash of Jeju Air Flight 2216, which resulted in the deaths of 179 passengers.

    The incident occurred on Sunday, December 29, 2024, when the Boeing 737-800, returning from Bangkok, Thailand, crash-landed at Muan International Airport in southern Korea. 

    The aircraft, which had 181 people on board, skidded off the runway, collided with a wall, and erupted in flames. Only two survivors were reported.

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    In a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acting spokesperson Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa expressed Nigeria’s heartfelt sympathy to the South Korean government and the families of those affected by the devastating crash.

    The statement reads partly: “The Federal Republic of Nigeria wishes to express her sincere condolences to the Government and People of the Republic of Korea for the unfortunate crash of Jeju Air Flight 2216 that occurred on Sunday, December 29th, 2024. 

    “The Federal Government of Nigeria sympathizes with the government of South Korea and the families of the victims of the deadly plane crash.”

  • 257people killed in Algeria military plane crash

    Officials said no fewer than 257 people including members of Western Sahara’s Polisario independence movement were killed when a military plane crashed in a field outside Algeria’s capital on Wednesday, officials said.

    Television footage showed crowds gathering around the smoking and flaming wreckage near Boufarik airport southwest of Algiers.

    A line of white body bags could be seen on the ground next to what media said was a Russian Ilyushin transport plane.

    A member of Algeria’s ruling FLN party told the private Ennahar TV station the dead included 26 members of Polisario, an Algerian-backed group fighting for the independence of neighboring Western Sahara – a territory also claimed by Morocco in a long-running dispute.

    The plane was heading to Tindouf, an area on Algeria’s border with Western Sahara, but crashed on the airport’s perimeter, Algeria’s defense ministry said.

    Tindouf is home to thousands of refugees from the Western Sahara standoff, many of them Polisario supporters.

    UN attempts to broker a settlement have failed for years in the vast desert area, which has contested since 1975 when Spanish colonial powers left.

    Morocco claimed the territory while Polisario established its self-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic there.

    Algeria’s defense ministry issued a statement expressing condolences to families of the victims.

    In February 2014, an Algerian Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules crashed in a mountainous area in eastern Algeria killing 77 passengers and leaving one survivor.

  • Plane crash: Judgment stalled in Falae family’s suit

    Judgment was stalled yesterday on a suit by the family of former Ondo State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, the late Deji Falae.

    The deceased’s family is praying the Federal High Court in Lagos to hold that the Associated Aviation Nigeria Ltd and the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) caused his death in an air crash through negligence.

    The deceased was serving as commissioner and was a passenger on board  Flight 361 that crashed on October 3, 2013 while conveying the remains of former Ondo State governor the late Olusegun Agagu for the funeral.

    The late Falae’s wife, Ese and three teenage children are claiming damages from the defendants for alleged negligence.

    They are claiming $100,000 as general damages and N219,906,250 which the deceased would have earned in 15 years as a lawyer, commissioner owner of a construction firm had he not died.

    The plaintiffs sought, in the alternative, N108,527,750, £160,740 and $19,000 as special damages for alleged breaches of the defendants’ respective duties under the Civil Aviation Act 2006, Fatal Accident Act 1846 and Fatal Accident Law of Lagos State.

    They also prayed for N5million as cost of filing the suit and legal fees, and 10 per cent interest on the post-judgment sum.

    Judgment was billed for yesterday and parties were informed by court officials that Justice Rabiu Hadiza Shagari would deliver it by 2pm.

    But, the counsel for the parties, who waited for the judge to sit, were invited into the judge’s chambers by 3.30 p.m.

    One of the counsel informed reporters when they came out of the judge’s chambers that the judgment was not ready, and that the judge further adjourned it till March 29.

    The family claims that Associated Aviation, which operated the chartered aircraft, breached Section 74 of the Civil Aviation Act 2006 by failing to procure a legally binding insurance policy covering its liabilities, including compensation for damages that may be sustained by third parties.

    It also wants the court to hold that the company breached statutory duties imposed by Section 55 of the Act when its aircraft at about 9.32 am, a minute after take-off, crashed just outside the aerodrome and caused the deceased’s death.

    The plaintiff said the NCAA also failed in its duties to ensure that the aircraft was safe to fly.

    “By virtue of Section 31 (f) of the Civil Aviation Act 2006, the second defendant has a statutory duty to ensure efficiency and regularity of air navigation and the safety of aircraft, persons and property carried in the aircraft and for preventing it from endangering persons and property,” it said.

    But, the defendants are praying the court to dismiss the suit.

    NCAA said the aircraft was airworthy as at the time of the crash and had a valid certificate of air worthiness.

  • 71 die in Russian plane crash

    71 die in Russian plane crash

    A five-year-old girl and her mother were among 71 people who died when a Russian passenger plane crashed near Moscow shortly after taking off.

    Nadezhda Krasova, five, the youngest victim in the crash, died along with her mother Oksana Krasova, 32, after the Antonov An-148 airliner broke up in mid-air, according to eyewitness reports.

    Two bodies were yesterday found at the site of a Russian plane crash, an official at the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said.

    A plane operated by Russia’s Saratov Airlines crashed near Moscow. There were 71 people on board and all of them are feared dead, the Russian authorities said.

    The cockpit voice recorder and parts of the fuselage were also retrieved from the crash site of the Saratov Airlines An-148.

    The search-and-rescue operation is ongoing. Special lighting had been set up so the operation could continue into the night, he added. The ministry said the area would be observed by drones.

    The Transport Prosecutor’s office said everyone aboard the plane was dead. The Emergencies Ministry released the names of all 71 people on board the ill-fated aircraft.

    Russia’s Investigative Committee opened an investigation into the crash

    Authorities said all lines of inquiry into the plane crash were open.

    Russian Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov flew to the site near Argunovo village in the Moscow region.

    The crashed plane was spotted from the air in the countryside near Moscow, a rescue service source told Russia’s RIA news agency.

    The Saratov Airlines jet vanished minutes after take-off and crashed near the village of Argunovo, about 80km (50 miles) south-east of Moscow.

    The cause of crash is unclear. Investigators and emergency crews were working at the snow-covered site.

    The Antonov An-148 was en route to the city of Orsk in the Ural Mountains.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to the victims’ families and announced an inquiry into the cause of the crash.

    Russia’s gazeta.ru website quoted unnamed investigators as saying the pilot had reported a malfunction and requested clearance for an emergency landing.

    All 65 passengers were from Orenburg, the Russian region to which the plane was flying, a spokesman for the regional governor told Interfax news agency.

    This is the first commercial passenger jet crash for more than a year – 2017 was the safest year on record for air travel.

    Saratov Airlines is based in Saratov, 840km south-east of Moscow.

    wreckage
    The wreckage of the plane…yesterday

    In 2015 it was banned from operating international flights when surprise inspectors found someone other than the flight crew was in the cockpit.

    The airline appealed against the ban and changed its policy before resuming international charter flights in 2016.

    It flies mainly between Russian cities but also has destinations in Armenia and Georgia.

    The crew of the Airlines didn’t report any problems before the plane crashed into snowy terrain, state-run media said.

    Three children – ages 5, 13 and 17- were among the passengers, state news agency RIA reported.

    “The snow is very dense … the Moscow region has had some of its heaviest snowfall in decades,” CNN’s Matthew Chance reported from Moscow. “It’s not clear at this stage whether weather was factor in this crash.”

    Sunday’s crash ends a 440-day streak without a passenger jet airliner fatality — the longest stretch in modern aviation history.

  • We’ve implemented safety recommendations on crash – DANA Air

    We’ve implemented safety recommendations on crash – DANA Air

    DANA Air said Monday that it has implemented the safety recommendations rolled out by the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) after its crash of June 3, 2012.

    The airline disclosed this Monday in a statement signed by its head of corporate communications, Kingsley Ezenwa.

    The statement reads: “Following the release of the final report of the June 3, 2012 Accident, we wish to reassure our guests of our total commitment to their safety and comfort onboard our flights.

    “We wish to also state that Dana Air swung into action immediately the Interim Safety Recommendations were released in 2013 and as an airline strictly committed to the safety and comfort of its guests, we  implemented all the recommendations same year, as released by  AIB.

    “We did not stop at just implementing the recommendations; we also successfully passed an operational audit conducted by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority’s Flight Safety Group and its foreign partners.

    “In 2016, after another rigorous operational audit, Dana Air was admitted into the IOSA register to underscore its strict adherence to global management and safety standards and procedures required of global carriers.

    “While we acknowledge the full report, and will continue to review it, we are glad that the report confirmed that the aircraft was airworthy at the time of departure, flight crew were certified and that we have cleared all defects during their last check.”

    Dana Air said it maintains a rich spare parts store to date.

    The statement reads: “We have doubled our maintenance and safety efforts with constant training and retraining get of our crew and ground staff.

    “The safety and comfort of our guests remains a top priority to us and may the beautiful souls of the crew and guests we lost at the unfortunate accident continue to rest in peace- Amen.

    “They remain forever in our hearts and our prayers and thoughts will continue to be with their friends and loved ones.”

     

     

     

  • Pilot, airline blamed for Bolivian plane crash

    Pilot, airline blamed for Bolivian plane crash

    A Bolivian investigation into a plane crash which killed 71 people last month, including dozens of Brazilian football players, has concluded that the pilot and the airline were directly responsible.

    The plane, operated by Bolivian airline LaMia, plunged into a mountainside near the Colombian city Medellin, with only six people surviving.

    An audio recording of the pilot suggested the aircraft ran out of fuel.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that an investigation into the crash by the Colombian authorities have since continued.

    LaMia’s chief executive, Gustavo Gamboa, and his son, Gustavo Villegas, a former official with Bolivia’s aviation authority, are being held pending trial, even though they have denied any wrongdoing.

    The pilot, Miguel Quiroga, who was also a co-owner of the airline, died in the crash.

    In a leaked tape, he can be heard warning of a “total electric failure’’ and “lack of fuel’’, but he, however, did not make a formal distress call.

    “The evidence is conclusive. The direct responsibility of this event falls on the pilot and the airline company,” Bolivia’s Public Works and Services Minister Milton Claros, who oversees the country’s aviation authority, told reporters.

    The aircraft had been transporting Brazil’s Chapecoense football club to the biggest game in its history, the final of the Copa Sudamericana.

    LaMia announced compensations of $165,000 (£134,000) to the victims’ families and survivors, Brazilian website G1 reported.

  • Vietnam helicopter crashes with three on board

    A Vietnamese air force training helicopter crashed in southern Vietnam on Tuesday with three people on board.

    The deputy transport minister, Nguyen Nhat, said the Eurocopter, EC130, lost contact some 15 minutes after take-off at 8.30 a.m. (0130GMT), adding that the pilot and two students on board remained unaccounted for.

    Nguyen quoted an army official that rescued forces as having found the suspected crash site on Dinh Mountain in the province of Ba Ria Vung Tau.

    However, Rescue forces were trying to approach the site, where smoke was observed rising into the air.

    Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has ordered the Army to review its planes to avoid any further accidents.

  • Russia fingered in Malaysia 2014 plane crash

    Russia fingered in Malaysia 2014 plane crash

    International prosecutors have alleged that Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was downed over eastern Ukraine in 2014 by a Buk missile that had come from Russia.

    They also narrowed down the area it was fired from to a field in territory controlled by Russian-backed rebels.

    All 298 people on board the Boeing 777 died when it broke apart in mid-air flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

    Russia said it could not accept the findings as the final truth, saying no Russian weapons were taken to Ukraine.

    “Based on the criminal investigation, we have concluded that flight MH17 was downed by a Buk missile of the series 9M83 that came from the territory of the Russian Federation,” chief Dutch police investigator Wilbert Paulissen told a news conference yesterday.

    The missile had been taken from Russia to rebel-held Ukraine in the morning of 17 July, when the plane was shot down, and the launcher was taken back to Russia the next day, he said.

    The Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has also narrowed the missile launch site down to a specific field near the village of Pervomaiskyi, which was then in rebel hands.

    n an interview with the BBC, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there was “nothing to accept or deny”, as he understood these were preliminary findings.

    “We cannot accept as final truth of what they say. I bet you haven’t seen any proof of what they say,” he told the Hardtalk programme, adding: “We know the devil is in the detail, and we are still missing lot of the detail.”

    But he appeared to rule out that the missile came from Russia: “We’ve been ruling out the fact that any Russian weapons were shipped to Ukraine, any Russian army members, any Russian troops were inside Ukraine. And we’re still ruling out that possibility.”

    Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko hailed the inquiry’s initial findings, saying: “We have solid proof of who is to blame for this dreadful crime.”

    Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte called the preliminary findings “an important step on the road to the ultimate goal: finding and prosecuting the perpetrators”, whereas the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said his country sought “firm action” so that those responsible “will be brought to justice”.

    Near the village of Hrabove, where a large section of the Boeing 777 had come down, we soon found bodies scattered in the fields and a pile of suitcases by the side of the road. A child’s diary lay open on the ground.

    The intense heat from the crash had melted part of one of the wings and a section of human backbone lay in the ashes.

    For the families of the 298 people killed when MH17 was shot down, today’s report is a step forward in their long, frustrating quest to see those responsible brought to justice.

    The confirmation that the missile launcher had been sent from Russia implies that Russian soldiers could have been involved at least in the transportation and possibly in the firing of the rocket.

    But prosecutors admitted they did not know who gave the order to shoot the plane down.

    And while there is a determination to prosecute those responsible, it is very unclear that this will ever be possible, particularly if it would require Moscow to hand over suspects.

    Separatist rebels have denied they were involved.

    “We never had such air defence systems, nor the people who could operate them,” Eduard Basurin, military deputy operational commander at the rebel Donetsk People’s Republic, told the Interfax news agency.

    “Therefore we could not have shot down the Boeing [flight MH17].”

    An inquiry by the Dutch Safety Board last year found that a Russian-made Buk missile hit the plane but was not specific about where the launch site could have been.

    Earlier this week, Russia said it had radar data showing that the missile was not fired from rebel-held territory.

  • Remembering 60 pupils who died in Sosoliso plane crash

    Shortly after the Sosoliso plane crash of December 10, 2005 at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa in Rivers State, where sixty students of Loyola Jesuit College (LJC), Abuja lost their lives, the parents of the “angels” pleaded with the management of LJC to replicate the college in Port Harcourt to immortalise their lovely children.

    The students who lost their lives to the ill-fated plane crash were mostly from the states in the Southsouth and Southeast zones of Nigeria.

    Besides immortalising the 60 students, the parents noted that having a replica of LJC in Port Harcourt would prevent parents and guardians from the two zones from sending their children and wards to the Abuja college for qualitative education.

    Jesuit Memorial College (JMC), Mbodo-Aluu, near the Port Harcourt International Airport was eventually established, in memory of the 60 LJC students.

    The then Rivers Governor, Dr. Peter Odili, supported JMC by providing 40-hectare land at Mbodo-Aluu and his administration also assisted the memorial college with seed money, but the land could not be developed, because of the swampy terrain, which would cost a fortune to sandfill.

    Odili’s successor, Rotimi Amaechi, now the Minister of Transportation, however, provided better 21-hectare land at the Greater Port Harcourt City, opposite the swampy land, with JMC now in the third year of operation, with various developmental challenges.

    In December 2015, during the 10th anniversary/remembrance of the 60 LJC’s deceased students, a fundraiser was organised to support JMC, but not successful, with just N2 million realised, while the college would be needing N700 million for development, which made the management to organise another fundraising on June 25 this year.

    During the December last year’s fundraiser, governors of the states in the Southsouth and Southsouth, as well as other stakeholders, made pledges to assist JMC, but yet to be redeemed.

    In order to ensure success of the second fundraiser, management of JMC organised a news conference on June 21, where representatives of the students, teachers, parents and management urged the governors and others to redeem their pledges.

    Speaking at the news conference, two of the 271 students of JMC, Kadilo Luka-Gbarayeghe and Swithin Jonathan-Egwuonwu, pleaded with the governments of states in the Southsouth and Southeast, as well as individuals and corporate organisations that made pledges during the first fundraiser to redeem them and assist to provide needed facilities.

    The news conference was addressed by the Chairman of the Fundraising Committee, Fr. John Okorie, who was accompanied by the President of JMC, Fr. Emeka Asogwa; the Principal of the college, Bro. Osaretin Jonah; two teachers and four students.

    While also addressing reporters, the chairman of the fundraising committee disclosed that when the 60 students died in the plane crash, LJC was in its 10th year of operation, without any plan to establish another college in Port Harcourt, in view of the cost implication, but for the insistence of parents of the deceased students.

    Fr. Okorie said: “Following the Sosoliso plane crash of December 10, 2005 in Port Harcourt, a collective decision was taken to honour the memories of the 60 LJC students who died in the ill-fated plane crash. The decision was the genesis of JMC, Port Harcourt.

    “Through the abiding support of LJC parents and friends, the Jesuits have sought to build JMC as a fitting memorial to the unforgettable souls, whose hopes were buried in the crash site. As such, JMC is our collective project as a nation and a people.

    “Major construction work began in 2012 and has seen the completion of a number of structures, including the administrative block, a classroom block and the primary school block.

    “A model primary school, offering free qualitative service to the residents of the area, with free lunch, is an intrinsic part of the JMC project. The college welcomed its pioneer students in October 2013, while the primary wing followed a year after.

    “Owing to fiscal constraints, work has only just begun on the phase two. Providing education for the children of this country, especially in the circumstances that gave birth to JMC, requires the collaborative effort and support of parents, spirited individuals, the government and business organisations.”

    The chairman of the fundraising committee also disclosed that JMC had an urgent need of providing student accommodation for its incoming class of September 2016, stressing that N700 million was estimated as the cost of completing the building, with a capacity to house 300 students, and other crucial projects.

    Fr. Okorie pleaded with governments, corporations, all Nigerians, friends of the country and lovers of qualitative education, not to allow JMC to suffer from lack of adequate facilities that would hamper the attainment of the vision that the Jesuits had set for the school.

    The second fundraiser of June 25 was a huge success, with millions of naira donated by individuals, families and corporate organisations, but most of the donors pleaded that their names should not be announced, for personal reasons.

    The Chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA), Chief Tony Elumelu, was the guest speaker and he spoke on: “Youth and Entrepreneurship,” while the Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka’s Childe Internationale was presented by JMC’s Drama Club.

    Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike, who was represented by Elder Emmanuel Ibama; Senator Osita Ozinaso, with two children in JMC; and a former Secretary to the Rivers State Government (SSG), Dame Aleruchi Gookey-Gam, were among the eminent personalities at the fund The Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of JMC, Fr. Jude Odiaka, stated that the co-educational institution was dedicated to the training of leaders of conscience, competence and compassionate commitment towards bringing about social justice for all men and women.

    Chairman of UBA said the students must have purpose in life, in order to make progress, stressing that they must work towards realising the purpose through hard work.

    Elumelu said: “You need to periodically check yourself, to be sure you are on course. Be resilient, knowing full well that life is not a bed of roses. Do not give up.

    “You need humility and integrity to succeed in life. Do not forget where you are coming from and do not allow your success to control you. Success is measured in terms of your purpose.”

    Wike said the Sosoliso plane crash of December 10, 2005 in Port Harcourt could not be forgotten in a hurry, describing it as a black day for the government and people of Rivers.

     

  • Two killed in Nepal plane crash

    Nepalese authorities on Friday said that two pilots were killed when a single-engine airplane crashed in western part of the country.

    A police source told newsmen that there were 11 people on board the Kastamandap plane that was en route from Nepalganj to the Jumla district.

    ‘’A helicopter was dispatched to rescue the survivors, after the plan crash landed in Kalikot district due to technical problems’’ the source said.

    It was the second aviation accident in Nepal in three days , as 23 people were killed on Wednesday when a plane crashed in the mountains of Myagdi district.