Uh oh.
A plane of Kenya Airways is reported missing
NAIROBI - a plane of Kenya Airways which transported 115 people and carried out the connection between Abidjan and Nairobi, via Douala (Cameroun), is reported missing, announced to Saturday in Nairobi a high person in charge for the airline company, Titus Naikuni.
“Flight 507 coming from Abidjan via Douala (...) unfortunately did not arrive” Saturday morning to Nairobi, it added at the time of a press conference.
The plane, which transported 115 people, including 106 passengers, eight members of crew and an engineer of flight, should have landed Saturday with 06h15 (03h15 GMT) in the Kenyan capital.
That’s close to a 2000 mile flight across Turd World Africa...
Could be a bad situation.
From the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6627485.stm
‘Contact lost’ with Kenya flight
Kenya Airways says it has lost contact with a Boeing 737-800 airliner flying to Nairobi from Douala in Cameroon with 115 people on board.
The airline says the last message was received by the control tower in Douala immediately after take-off.
Flight KQ 507 originated in Abidjan in Ivory Coast and left Douala at 2305 local time (0005 GMT) Friday. It was due to arrive in Nairobi at 0615.
Kenya Airways says there were 106 passengers and nine crew on board.
It has set up a crisis management centre at Embakasi at Nairobi airport.
Connecting passengers
Titus Naikuni, the company’s chief executive officer, said: “Flight 507 was coming from Abidjan via Douala. The aircraft unfortunately has not arrived.”
“We have no details about what has happened to the aircraft,” he said.
Most of the passengers were said to be connecting at Nairobi to destinations outside Kenya.
The Kenya Airways website says the fleet is 23 strong but only one of the planes is a 737-800.
Kenya Airways is 26%-owned by Air France KLM’s Dutch company KLM.
In January 2000 a Kenya Airways plane crashed into the sea after taking off from Abidjan airport in Ivory Coast killing 169 passengers and 10 crew.
CAMEROON STATE RADIO SAYS KENYA AIRWAYS PLANE CRASHED IN NIETE, SOUTHERN CAMEROON
This is the official statement from Kenya Airways:
PRESS STATEMENT.
Released at 1900hrs
Flight KQ 507 operated by a 737-800 aircraft which departed from Douala at 00:05 local time and was due to arrive in Nairobi at 06:15 but has not arrived.
The last message from the aircraft was received by the control tower in Douala immediately after take off. There were 105 passengers and 9 crew members on board. The nationalities of the people on board are as shown on the attached list. The nationality of 2 passengers is yet to be confirmed. We have now confirmed the nationality of 1 of the 3 unidentified passengers as Mauritanian.
Kenya Airways have opened a crisis management centre in Embakasi to monitor the situation and information is being disseminated on a regular basis.
An international passenger information centre has been opened in South Africa where all questions can be addressed. The public enquiry number is +27 11 2071100.
A local passenger information centre has been opened at the Intercontinental Hotel where all questions can be addressed. The public enquiry numbers are +254-20-3200353, +254-20-3200354, +254-20-3274349.
A team from Nairobi comprising Kenya Airways and appropriate Kenya Government authorities is being assembled and will leave for Douala later today.
Unless any pertinent information comes up in the course of the evening, the next press briefing is scheduled to be held at Panari Hotel on Sunday 6th May 2007 at 0900hrs.
A brief update on the situation in Douala:
There was a brief disturbance at Douala Airport in the morning, but the situation is now calm.
A distress signal was picked up on the West Coast of Africa and a search and rescue mission, initiated by the Cameroonian authorities, was initiated this morning. The search location was 100km South West of Yaoundé. The search aircraft flew over the zone extensively at low altitude but did not locate the missing aircraft. The Kenya Airways country manager in Cameroon was part of the search team.
A coordination centre has been set up where most of the Cameroonian Government authorities including police, state police, Air Force, Cameroon Civil Aviation Authorities, ASECNA, the Army, National Intelligence Agency and Kenya Airways team are present.
A helicopter has taken off to comb the area from Eseka to Ebolowa south east of Douala. The area being searched is very dense equatorial forest and there is heavy rainfall reported which is affecting the search exercise.
Our offices in Douala and Yaoundé continue to remain open for any enquiries.