A Boeing 727 cargo plane attempting to land at the international airport in Ghana's capital crashed Saturday, slamming into a bus loaded with passengers on a nearby street, killing all 10 people inside the vehicle, emergency responders and airport officials said.
Rescuers work at the site of plane crash in Accra, Ghana (Xinhua-Yonhap News)
The crash occurred in Accra near Kotoka International Airport, which sits near newly built high-rise buildings and hotels. Witnesses said the plane first smashed through the fence that runs around the airport before hitting the bus.
Local television showed images of the plane lying across a road with its tail damaged as the flight crew jumped off and received help from emergency responders. Police and soldiers quickly cordoned off the neighborhood where the plane crashed.
Billy Anaglate, spokesman for the Ghana Fire Service, said that all 10 passengers in the bus were killed on impact. The plane's four crew members survived the crash and were rushed to a local hospital for treatment.
``What happened is that the Allied (Air) Cargo plane, actually I was told, was traveling from Nigeria to Ghana. At the landing it was short of the boundary, and it went off onto the roadside. It crashed into a bus,'' said Anaglate, who was reached by telephone late Saturday.
``... (The plane) broke the barrier and went onto the road and hit the vehicle and unfortunately in the vehicle everyone ended up dying. The poor people were killed.''
Doreen Owusu Fianko, the chief executive of the Ghana Airport Co., said that operations at the airport had returned to normal after the crash Saturday. Fianko, who addressed reporters at a press conference hours after the accident, said the plane was coming from Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria, when it crashed after a failed landing attempt.
Witnesses said the plane was labeled as belonging to Allied Air Cargo, a fact confirmed by Anaglate. The name and symbols on the aircraft matched those of the Nigerian air freight company based out of Lagos. Telephone numbers for the company in London, Lagos and the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt rang unanswered Saturday night.
Ghana, a nation of more than 25 million in West Africa, has not had a major airplane crash in recent years. The last air emergency the country had was in June 2006, when a TAAG Linhas Aereas De Angola flight to Sao Tome hit birds during takeoff. The plane landed safely and none of the 28 people onboard were injured.
Ghana's Vice President John Dramani Mahama ordered aviation officials to launch an investigation.
``I urge you to conduct preliminary investigations as early as possible,'' Mahama said in front of reporters at a news conference Saturday. ``And no early conclusions should be drawn to the cause of the accident,'' Mahama added. (AP)
<한글 기사>
비행기 활주로 이탈, 버스 덮쳐 10명 사망
아프리카 서부 해안에 위치한 가나의 수도 아크라의 코토카 국제공항에서 화물기가 착륙도중 활주로를 이탈하면서 버스와 충돌해 최소한 10명이 숨졌다.
이날 사고는 2일 밤 얼라이드 에어 카고 소속 화물기가 승객을 태운 채 공항 인 근 도로에 서 있던 버스를 덮쳐 일어났다고 목격자들은 전했다.
이 사고로 최소한 10명이 숨졌고 화물기에 타고 있던 조종사 등 4명은 크게 다치지 않은 것으로 알려졌다.
가나 소방대 대변인은 "최소한 10명이 숨졌으며 모두 버스에 타고 있던 승객"이 라면서 "구급차가 부상자들을 인근 병원으로 후송했다"고 말했다.
공항 관제당국과 경찰은 사고 경위에 대해 더이상 언급하지 않았다.
목격자들은 화물기가 공항 외곽에 둘러쳐진 담을 뚫고 버스로 돌진했다고 전했다.
사고가 난 곳은 엘 왁 경기장과 무슬림들이 메카로 성지 순례를 떠나기 전에 머 무는 마을에 가까이 위치해 있다.
