Tears, hope in Beirut for Benin air crash victims ( 2003-12-26 08:46) (Agencies)
Grief was mixed with hope in Beirut on Thursday as
families of passengers on a Lebanon-bound plane that crashed in Benin kept vigil
and prayed their relatives were among the survivors.
The airliner crashed into the sea moments after takeoff in the West African
country, killing at least 90 on board and forcing rescuers to plunge into the
waves to save others or salvage their bodies.
A video still shows wreckage from a Boeing
727 passenger plane that crashed shortly after takeoff, in the West
African country of Benin, December 25, 2003, killing dozens of those on
board, witnesses and airport officials said.
[Reuters]
Benin's Health Minister Celine Segnon
said there were 18 survivors after four people earlier rescued died in hospital.
Rescue workers toiled into the night, working under powerful lights set up at
the crash site.
Tearful relatives at Beirut's airport mingled with others carrying bouquets
of flowers, anticipating cheerful Christmas day reunions with passengers
arriving on other flights.
"My brother and my uncle are on this plane. We have called people we know in
Cotonou and they said they got on the plane. Now we don't know what happened to
them," one man said through tears while waiting at the airport for news.
"We hope they are still alive. We don't know their fate," he added, without
giving his name.
Some relatives watched breaking news of the crash on television sets in the
airport, collapsing into loud sobs when news of the Lebanese dead was broadcast
on Lebanon's al-Manar television.
After the plane was reported down, a screen listing arrivals still showed the
flight as scheduled to arrive at 11 p.m. local time from Cotonou and Conakry.
Lebanon's Transport Minister Najib Mikati said the survivors were mostly
Lebanese and in good condition with minor injuries.
A crowd looks at wreckage from a Boeing
passenger plane that crashed shortly after takeoff in the West African
country of Benin on December 25, 2003.
[Reuters]
The aircraft belonged to Union Transport Africaines, owned by two Lebanese,
and had a carrying capacity of 141 passengers and crew.
Officials at the control tower in Cotonou said 63 people had boarded the
plane in Benin, all but four of them Lebanese and heading to Beirut for seasonal
holidays.
Police sources at the airport in Conakry, capital of Guinea where the flight
originated, said 31 passengers had earlier boarded the plane there, of which 19
were Guineans.
West Africa has had Lebanese communities for more than a century, forming the
backbone of some economies.
RAY OF HOPE
But tears turned to relief for at least one man at the Beirut airport when he
learned by phone that his son Muhammed Bashir survived the crash with broken
bones and was in hospital.
"This was my son calling me from Germany. He just told me he has spoken to
his brother, who was aboard the plane, and he is alive," said Ali Bashir, as
relatives of other passengers crowded around, desperate for details.
"I learned that my son has broken bones. But what matters is he is alive," he
said.
Other relatives said they were frustrated they had not received news in
Beirut on the fate of passengers.
"If they don't comfort us by giving us information, who is going to?" asked
one man who had three cousins on the flight.
Lebanon's national carrier Middle East Airlines said it had been asked to
send a plane to Cotonou to take on injured passengers.
"I am waiting here to hear the news and to find out what happened to my
nephew. We spoke to him last night and he told us he was coming and was bringing
gifts to his kids," said Youssef Ghadar, whose 31-year-old nephew was on the
plane.
"Now I am lost. I can't focus. His family can't believe the news. His wife is
breaking down, so she didn't come," he said crying.
"From the number of the dead, I feel he couldn't have survived."
