Pilot avoided crashing near homes

Hugh Naylor, Yasin Kakande and Wafa Issa

• Last Updated: October 22. 2009 12:38AM UAE / October 21. 2009 8:38PM GMT

SHARJAH // Hours after flight SD2241 slammed into the ground just after taking off from Sharjah International Airport, emergency workers and investigators were still trying to determine exactly what caused the plane to fall from the sky.

The twisted wreckage, spread across about 500 metres of desert two kilometres from the airport, was covered in a pall of acrid smoke from the tonnes of aviation fuel it carried, which ignited on impact.

Pieces of engine were discernable, as were bits of the wing and nose section. But most of the aircraft had been reduced to sharp metal parts protruding skyward from the sand like bits of an exploded mortar shell.

After the fire was extinguished six charred bodies – the remains of the plane’s crew – were removed from the site.

“All six on board were killed, [one] from Sudan Airlines and the remaining crew from Azza [Transport],” Issam Awad Motwali, the Sudanese consul in Dubai, said at the airport.

But the devastation could have been worse. Several witnesses said the aircraft veered away from populated areas near the airport, potentially saving lives on the ground.

The debris field ended about 100 metres away from Emirates Road, and avoided scores of villas and businesses nearby, including the Sharjah Golf and Shooting Club.

The plane’s captain, identified as Mohammed Ali, 55, was a 20-year veteran of the aviation industry, said his brother, Mohammed Uthuman. Mr Ali had been planning to retire soon, a close friend said.

Mr Uthuman said he learnt of the crash in a call from another relative who had dropped off Capt Ali at the airport. “We are very sad about this; I don’t have words,” he said.

The cause of the crash is still being investigated, but the flight data recorders from the aircraft have been recovered, officials said.

Sheikh Khalid al Qassimi, director of the Sharjah Department of Civil Aviation, said: “It is still premature to even give primary reasons for the crash but we are investigating the cause of the accident and as soon as we are able to extract information from the black boxes we will have a clearer picture of what happened.”

Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed, the Ruler of Sharjah, sent a cable of condolence to the Sudanese president, Omar al Bashir, the state news agency, WAM, reported.

A witnesses who was driving on the nearby road reported that the plane exploded on imapct and that debris flew everywhere.

The Boeing 707 had been carrying about six hours’ worth of fuel, which is a standard load for the trip to Khartoum, according to a Sudan Airways official.

It had been carrying 31 tonnes of “general cargo”, officials said.

Col Wahid Serkal, head of Sharjah Civil Defence, said his office was told of the accident at 3.31pm and arrived on the scene in less than five minutes. “By the time we came, the plane was already in pieces and on big fire,” he said.

“We called all our firefighters in Samnan station, headquarters and Sajja station; we also called Ajman Civil Defence firefighters, and Dubai provided the plane crash rescue experts. Rescuers from Abu Dhabi joined some time later.”

A group of 12 labourers from a nearby camp said the aircraft veered sharply moments after takeoff. One of the workers, who spoke through a translator, said they could see flames and smoke from the crash as they stood on the roof of their building.

So far, only one other member of the crew besides the captain has been identified, Mohammed Fatih, a flight engineer.

His sister-in-law, Aidah Abdrahman, a Sudanese journalist based in the UAE, discovered his death when she was sent to cover the crash. “Life is nothing. Oh, God, he was at our home yesterday,” she said.

Capt Ali is survived by a wife and children in Sudan, his brother said. Another relative, Majid, said he dropped the captain off at the airport before the flight. He called the accident the worst experience of his life.

“Captain Ali is my relative and best friend; we have been staying with him whenever he came to Sharjah on his trips,” Majid said. “I drove [the captain and two crew members] in my car, we were chatting and they are all now dead.”

Mahjoub Makki, one of Capt Ali’s former trainees and a pilot for Air Arabia, said: “He was my instructor when I first started flying, he was a gentle good man. He has been a captain for a long time, so he knew what he was doing.

“If you are in a situation where you know you are going to crash you do your absolute best to stay as far away from people and buildings as you can.”



hnaylor@thenational.ae

ykakande@thenational.ae

wissa@thenational.ae

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