Rescues recover 121 remains from crash site in Cameroon
11/5/2007 16:19
At least 121 remains have so far been recovered from the wreckage of the
Kenya Airways plane which crashed over the weekend, airline officials said
yesterday.
Addressing a news conference in Nairobi, Kenya Airways Chief
Executive Officer Titus Naikuni said the process of identification of the bodies
of the victims would be lengthy and tedious.
"As of this morning, 121 remains
have been recovered from the site. The authorities may take some time to
confirm, if possible, how many passengers the remains represent," Naikuni told
journalists in Nairobi.
He said bodies were being found in pieces and badly
decomposed after more than 40 hours in the water, making the identification
process more complicated and time consuming.
"The identification process will
be lengthy and complicated and is likely to take a considerable length of time.
We are advised that the mortuary facilities are adequate for the purposes of
identification and repatriation," said Naikuni.
"So far, we have relayed the
news to the next of kin of 101 families. We have not managed to relay this news
to the next of kin of 13 passengers, who we have been unable to contact," said
Naikuni.
He said the information had, however, been forwarded to Kenya's
Chief of Protocol for relay to the respective embassies and High
Commissions.
Naikuni said there was no tension between Kenya and Cameroon,
and that they had confidence in the efforts of Cameroonians leading the recovery
effort and investigation.
The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) said a
distress call over the disappearance of the plane from the radar was sent out by
Douala Areas Control Center two hours after take-off.
KCAA Director Chris
Kuto said the same information was sent to Nairobi more than three and half
hours later. However there is no information as to when or if any distress
signal was sent from the ill-fated plane before it went down.
Kuto said the
plane left at 0005 local time on Saturday, the usual slot for the airline's
flight to Nairobi. But Cameroonian authorities initially said a distress signal
had been located 160 kilometers from Douala , although the wreckage was later
spotted just 5.42 kilometers from the edge of the runway.
Douala airport has
no weather radar, although the Boeing 737- 800 was equipped with one. The
plane's Flight Data Recorder was retrieved on Monday at the crash scene, where
it had been submerged in water.
Officials said the device was in good
condition but the voice recorder, which records conversations between the pilots
and the control tower, is yet to be found.
Kenyan Airways plane which crashed
at the weekend, killing all 114 people aboard plunged into mangrove swamps near
the city of Douala minutes after taking off.
People from at least 27 nations
had been travelling on board flight KQ 507 which took off in heavy rain en route
to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
Both Kenyan and Cameroonian officials have
admitted that there were no chances of finding any survivors.
The aircraft
was just six months old and part of a new fleet bought by the airline, which has
a good safety record.
In January 2000, one of its planes crashed into the sea
after taking off from Abidjan, killing 169 passengers. Ten people survived.
Xinhua
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