Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145

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Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145
Summary
Date December 10, 2005
Type Possible weather-related crash
Site Port Harcourt International Airport, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Passengers 105
Crew 5
Injuries 1
Fatalities 108
Survivors 2
Aircraft type McDonnell Douglas DC-9
Operator Sosoliso Airlines
Tail number YU-AJH

Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145 was a scheduled flight between the Nigerian cities of Abuja (ABV) and Port Harcourt (PHC).

At about 14:08 local time (13:08 UTC) on December 10, 2005, Flight 1145 from Abuja crash-landed on the runway at Port Harcourt International Airport. The plane, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 with 110 people onboard, burst into flames. Immediately after the crash, seven survivors were recovered and taken to hospitals, but it has since been reported that four of those survivors have died in hospital care, leaving three survivors, two of whom were flown to South Africa. In the end, two people survived.[1]

The cause of the crash is unconfirmed but it is believed that the aircraft overshot the runway during a thunderstorm, and is reported to have been struck by lightning about 40 or 50 metres before touchdown.

An eyewitness at the airport said, "The place where I'm standing now is scattered with corpses" [2].

Among the passengers were about sixty one secondary school students from a school in the Federal Capital Territory region of Nigeria called Loyola Jesuit College [3].

According to the airline's website, Sosoliso Airlines operated one MD-81 and three DC-9 airplanes, though it acquired an MD-82 during the last week of November. The crashed DC-9 was acquired from JAT Airways.

This is the first accident for the airline.

Many passengers survived the initial impact and died in the resulting fire. Port Harcourt Airport had one fire truck and no ambulances [4].

Contents

[edit] Survivor count

As of December 10, 2005, CNN and Yahoo! stated that seven people survived [2] [3].

On December 11, four of the people who survived the initial impact and remained alive, including Bimbo Odukoya [5], died, leaving three remaining survivors [6]

As of 11:35 P.M. EST on December 13, 2005, CNN incorrectly stated that one survivor remained [7].

As of October 29, 2006, CNN incorrectly stated that there were 108 passengers and that all of them died [8] On the same day the Associated Press stated that 107 passengers were killed [9].

One survivor, Kechi Okwuchi, was treated in Milpark Hospital at Johannesburg, South Africa as of 14 December 2005 [10] and at Shriners Hospitals for Children in Galveston, Texas, United States as of 6 September 2007. [11].

[edit] Legacy

Andy and Ify Ilabor, the parents of crash victims Chuka, Nkem, and Busonma "Buso" Ilabor, started a foundation called the Ilabor Angels to assist orphans and AIDS victims [4].

Loyola Jesuit dedicated a Memorial Hall to the dead students.[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Nightmare in Nigeria." The Wall Street Journal.
  2. ^ a b "Nigerian plane that crashed carrying 'large number' of children," December 11, 2005
  3. ^ a b "Nigeria plane crash kills 103," Yahoo!
  4. ^ a b c Africa's Airline Casualties at YouTube - The Wall Street Journal
  5. ^ "Its an Act of God, Says Pastor Bimbo’s Mother," Online Nigeria Daily News
  6. ^ "Casualty figure in Nigerian plane crash increases to 107... Pastor Bimbo Odukoya among the dead," Online Nigeria Daily News
  7. ^ "Nigeria grounds two airlines," CNN
  8. ^ "Muslim leader among those killed in Nigerian plane crash," CNN
  9. ^ "Nigerian Jet Crashes With 104 Aboard," Associated Press, posted by KYW-TV
  10. ^ "Crash Survivor in S/African Hospital, Mother Speaks," This Day
  11. ^ "Enter the Den 2007-2008," Loyola Jesuit College

[edit] External links