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| Africa: Subsaharan |
| USA Major killed in Nigeria Crash |
| 2005-11-01 |
| EFL PRESIDENT George Bush of the United States of America (USA) despatched, yesterday, to President Olusegun Obasanjo a letter requesting full investigation into the Saturday crash of the Bellview flight 210 from Lagos to Abuja. All 117 passengers on board and crew members perished in the crash. Among them was a US army major. Vanguard gathered yesterday that security men investigating the crash were not ruling out sabotage. The police have already set up a team of crack detectives to investigate the crash. President Bush's letter was conveyed to President Obasanjo by the US Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs, Jendayi Frazer. President Obasanjo has already ordered special and detailed investigation into the crash. The US President who also sent his condolence on the death of the First Lady, Mrs Stella Obasanjo expressed concern over the death of the American military officer identified as Heydon Joseph. Joseph was said to be the Chief of the Office of Defence Co-operation. In a statement issued after her visit to the State House, Abuja yesterday, the US Assistant Secretary expressed profound sympathy to Nigerians over the crash, saying: "I would like to express my profound sympathy and condolences to President Obasanjo and his family at the loss of First Lady Stella Obasanjo.I would also like to extend condolences to the families of the victims of the Bellview flight that crashed at Ifo. The Embassy is directly affected by the crash because it was confirmed yesterday (Sunday) that Major Joseph Haydon, the Chief of Defence Cooperation, was among the passengers. A team of Embassy officials, including the Lagos Security Officer, visited the crash site yesterday (Sunday) afternoon and will go again today (Monday). In the meantime, the US military officials are working to support his family members in Nigeria and in the United States." Other foreigners identified as being among the victims of the crashed Bellview flight are John Moru, Justice Akuri and Chiwuba of ActionAid, a non-governmental organisation engaged in HIV/AIDS advocacy. The others are Oumar Diarra, Ecowas Deputy Executive Secretary in charge of Political Affairs, Defence and Security, Emmanuel Quanye, ECOWAS Director of Finance in Nigeria, Peter Andreas, a consultant to the sub-regional group and Adele Lozenbo, a South African television producer who was on an assignment in Nigeria. Also, the US government has offered to assist Nigeria in investigating the crash of Bellview Airlines' flight 210. The US offer came on a day the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro, dismissed suggestions about terror attacks as the cause of the crash... Emergency workers, meanwhile, continued with the gruesome task of disentangling the shredded bodies of the passengers from the widely scattered remains of the jet, which came down in a cocoa grove in the village of Lissa shortly after taking off from Africa's biggest city. "There's no chance of survivors, as you can see. Bodies in pieces and human parts are being picked up by the rescue team," said Borisade. As he spoke, a police officer nearby scraped body parts into a polythene bag. "It is not possible to get a complete body of any victim. The bodies were scattered all over the place. Some human parts were hanging on trees," said Nigerian Red Cross official, Bayo Fasoranti. Nigerian accident investigators believe that the main body of the plane ploughed into the ground, but some witnesses said the aircraft blew up in mid-air. A farmer identified as Tajudeen said nothing so terrifying had happened in the 62 years he had lived in the village. "I was in my room on that night when I heard a loud noise and there was fire. Because it was dark, I could not locate the exact spot of the explosion. The next day, around mid-day, I saw policemen moving towards the scene and I followed them. What we saw was terrifying. Human parts, clothes, slippers, shoes littered everywhere. We also saw some damaged parts of the aircraft," he said. |
| Posted by:Ulomorong Ebbinert4240 |
| #2 Bellview had a pretty decent safety record, IIRC. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-11-01 12:41 |
| #1 very fishy that a major was onboard but those umbongo airliners arn't to maintanace hot either i bet, intersting story developing maybe |
| Posted by: Shep UK 2005-11-01 12:26 |