Kechi Okwuchi is one of the two survivors of the crash
Trendysturvs blog will like to remind you that it is ten years today since Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145 burst into flames after landing at the Port Harcourt International Airport killing 108 people. The plane, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 with 110 people on board, burst into flames. Immediately after the crash, seven survivors were recovered and taken to hospitals, but four of those survivors died in hospital care, leaving three survivors, two of whom were flown to South Africa. In the end, only two people survived.
The flight which originated from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, had among its passengers sixty students of the prestigious Loyola Jesuit College. Among the victims were two volunteers for Doctors without Borders, Hawah Kamara and Thomas Lamy, who were on their way to Port Harcourt, as well as televangelist Bimbo Odukoya, pastor of the Fountain of Life Church, who died a day after the accident.
Most of the parents had gone to the airport to pick up their children who were returning home for the Christmas holiday, but had to witness the horror of watching the plane go up in flames. Kechi Okwuchi one of the two survivors of the plane crash has moved on with life as she recently graduated from the University of Thomas, Houston Texas, top of her class. But the journey has been tough for her after undergoing countless surgeries and cocktails of medication. In all, Kechi has had more than 100 surgeries, including skin grafts. Ms. Okwuchi recounts the very moment the plane went down.
To remember the 60 students of the school who died in the crash, Loyola Jesuit College this morning held a candle-light procession at the Port Harcourt International Airport where the accident happened. According to a statement by the school, one of the activities is the unveiling of a monument in honor of the “60-Angels” at Jesuit Memorial College entrance.
The tenth anniversary of the Dec 2005 Sosoliso crash once again brings into perspective aviation safety in Nigeria and specifically, the emergency protocol at the Port Harcourt International Airport. Experts at the time believe that if the rescue operation at the Port Harcourt International Airport was efficient, most of the passengers would have survived the crash.
A Human Rights advocate, Anyakwee Nsirimovu says despite the tragedy ten years ago, emergency protocol at the Port Harcourt International Airport is still below standard. Mr. Nsirimovu who is the head of the Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law lamented the poor standard and absence of rescue facilities at the Port Harcourt International Airport and other airports in Nigeria. He said if rescue operations after the Sosoliso plane burst into planes inside the airport had been efficient and fast enough, many other passengers would have survived.
The human rights advocate however advised the current administration to equip all airports in the country to avert loss of lives. Meanwhile, some air travelers at the Port Harcourt International Airport complained that the airport emergency rescue operation system is yet to improve ten years after the Sosoliso crash. Others however seem to disagree.
The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria has declined to comment on the matter. But an official of FAAN, who spoke on condition of anonymity, disclosed to our correspondent that the airport authority acquired more rescue equipment immediately after the Sosoliso Airlines plane crash. The Port Harcourt International Airport came under scrutiny this year after it was rated the worst airport in the world by travel ratings agency, sleepinginairports.net.
Either in Port Harcourt or Lagos or Kaduna, Ms. Okwuchi hopes that incidences of plane crashes in Nigeria leading to deaths, dashed hopes and broken families will end one day.
May their souls rests in peace … amen!