Dana Flight 992 Tragedy: Pilot First Asked to Land On Longer Runway After First Engine Failed

CAPT PETER WAS FLYING THE PLANE

Air traffic controllers have told Saharareporters confidentially that the crashed airliner Dana aircraft most likely had one failed engine long before the pilot declared an emergency. Multiple sources confirmed that the pilot had requested to land on Murtala Muhammad Airport’s longer runway 18R before calling air controllers back a few minutes later to report a total emergency.



They believe that second call was most probably when the second engine failed. The aircraft crashed about seven nautical miles from the local airport.



One source further explained that the MD 83 plane was overloaded with passengers and luggage to the extent that when the first engine failed, the pilots urgently reduced speed to enable the flight land safely on the longer and better runway, an action that led the flight to an extra 20 minutes delay before crashing at 3:43p.m. It had been billed to land at 3:21p.m.



Our sources stated that the drastic reduction in thrust was the undoing of the pilot, given the heavy pay load. To underscore their point that the operators of the jet knew of its mechanical troubles, one of our sources said the jet conducted a short flight test between the Lagos and Ibadan airport on Saturday, apparently to prove to regulators that the jet was “airworthy”.



Several employees of the Dana airlines have publicly stated that the owners were aware as early as Sunday that the jet had mechanical troubles, as it had struggled on a flight to Calabar, but the operators forced the crew to fly it anyway, obviously with an eye on maximizing profit.



Residents that witnessed the crash at Iju Agege area of Lagos have also told Saharareporters that they watched as the pilot seemed to struggle to give the aircraft a final thrust of flight power before the crash, which killed everyone on board.



But speaking for the first time officially today, Dana Air's Director of Flight Operations, Captain Oscar Wason, suggested that a "bird strike" may have caused the crash.



Appearing on Silver Bird TV in Lagos, he said the management of the grounded airline found remnants of birds in one of the engines of the crashed plane.



According to him, “I don’t know what could have been responsible for the crash, but this morning we found remnants of birds in one of the engines.”



He noted that birds were a problem in Nigeria he has experienced several times. “We have bird strikes and it might have been that a mass of birds went through the engine and caused it to lose power.”



However, he said the investigations must be left to come out with an answer. “We have found the voice recorder and that has to be sent to either the UK or Washington. I am planning to travel out myself so that we can found out what is the real cause of the accident.”



It will take several months, if not years, to arrive at the real cause of the fatal crash of Dana Air 992, as Nigeria typically relies on American investigators to unravel the cause of airline accidents.

SAHARA REPORTERS

SoutheKaduna: Suspected Fulani Herdsmen Kill Father And Son, Set Home Ablaze

Two men, a father and his son, were killed sunday night in the troubled town of Zonkwa in Southern Kaduna by unknown Fulani herdmen, security personnel in Abuja have told SaharaReporters.

Another woman survived the attack by sheer luck, escaping with several gun wounds. She is receiving treatment in a hospital.  

The source said the attackers also set a house ablaze and hurriedly escaped before the community could mount a response.  The attack has created new tension and panic in the area, as more security re-enforcements have been dispatched there in order to prevent reprisals by irate youths.

SaharaReporters also confirmed the attack from a source in the area, Yunana Kantiyok, who said that two corpses were recovered.  He added that irate youths have invaded the bush in search of the suspects.

He said, “We will not agree, Southern Kaduna is our God-given land and we will not tolerate people coming to kill us in our homes. Go and cross check: have you ever heard a Southern Kaduna person claiming land and killing people in Zaria, Makarfi or Kano? The same people are coming to kill us in our homes and when we resist it becomes another issue and manipulation in their Daily Trust newspapers. I swear we will not agree.”

list of passengers on-board the ill-fated Dana plane.

some of the victims.

1. Abdu Aisha
2. Abdulrazak Lawan
3. Abikalio Tatoru
4. Adekola Ayoola
5. Adekunbi Adebiyi
6. Adeleke Oluwadamilare
7. Adijolola Abraham
8. Ahmed Mbana
9. Aikhomu Ehime, son of former chief of General Staff
10. Ailende Ehi
11. Ajani Adenike
12. Akinola Olumodeji
13.Akinsanya Moyo
14. Akinsanya Omonigho
15. Akwaeze Elizabeth
16. Alade Matins
17. Amiaka Raphael
18. Amina Idris Bugaje
19. Anibaba Tosin
20. Anthony Nwaokoagbara
21. Anthony Okara
22. Aouade Roger
23. Apochi Godwin
24. Ariyibi Temitope
25. Asuquo Niobong
26. Attuh Antonia
27. Awodogan Olusanmi
28. Bamaiyi Adamu
29. Benson Oluwayomi
30. Berkisu Myindadi
31. Bukhari Majkudi
32. Chukwuemeka Okere
33. Coker Olumide
34. Diawani
35. DavidKolawole Eyinojuoluwa
36. DavidKolawole Fortune
37. Dike Chinwe
38. Dike Chukwuezugo
39. Doherty Adedunni
40. Dukawa Mahmud
41. Ebuka Enumah
42. Echeidunbe
43. Ehioghae Sonny
44. Eribake Wale
45. Eyo Bassey
46. Fatokun Anjola
47. Fatokun Ibukun
48. Fatokun Olaoluwa
49. Faysal Inusa
50. Garba Abdu
51. George Moses
52. Hunna Walter
53. Hurriya Lawal
54. Ibrahim D
55. Ibrahim Jangana
56. Ibrahim Matankari
57. Ifeanyi Orakwe
58. Ifekawa Jones
59. Ijeoma Onyijuke
60. Ike Abugu
61. Ike Ochonogor
62. Ike Okoye
63. Ikpoki Abiola
64. Inusa Ahmed
65. Jennifer Ibe
66. John Ahmadu
67. Joy Allison
68. Kaika Farida
69. Kaltum Abubakar
70. Kamsiyonna Anyene
71. Kang Yi
72. Kayimarachi Anyene
73. Kayineochi Anyene
74. Komolafe Olugbenga
75. Lawal U. Anakobe
76. Levi Ajounuma
77. Li Huizhu
78. Li Rui
79. Li Janlas
80. Lt Col Chumbo Ochigbo
81. Mahmud Aliyu
82. Mamuna Anyene
83. Maj Gen Tahiru Umar
84. Maj IG Muhammad
85. Maria Okwulehie
86. Mbong Eventus
87. Mecha Eke
88. Mohammed Falmata
89. Mojekwu Adeobi
90. Mutihir Isttifaanus
91. N Chidiac
92. Nabil Garba
93. Nagidi Ibrahim
94. Ngozi Cole
95. Nnadi John
96. Noah Anyene
97. Norris Kim
98. Ntuko Charles
99. O Awani
100. Obi Chinwe
101. Obinna Akubueze
102. Obot Emmanuel
103. Ogechi Njoku
104. Ojugbana Amaka
105. Ojugbana Christopher
106. Ojukwu Alvana
107. Okafor Chinero
108. Okeke Hope
109. Okikiolu Olukayode
110. Okocha Christopher
111. Okonji Patrick
112. Okor Eseoghene
113. Oloko Tunji
114. Oluchi Onyeyiri
115. Olukoya Banji
116. Olusola Arokoyu
117. Oluwasegunfunmi Abiodun
118. Onemclease Amanehi
119. Onita Jennifer
120. Onita Josephine
121. Onwuliri Celestine
122. Onyeagocha Chimdinma
123. Onyegocha Ogechi
124. Onyeka Anyene
125. Osunbade Aderoju
126. Otegbeye Hadiza
127. Oyosoro Rajulie
128. Oyosoro Ugabio
129. Patience Sunday Udoh
130. Peter Nosike
131. Philip Chukwu-Buka
132. Rev. Ayodeji Cole
133. Ruoel Dhose
134. Saka Otaru
135. Sarah Mshelia
136. Shaibu Memuna
137. Shaibu Sam
138. Shehu Saad Usman, Director Of Mainstreet Bank
139. Shobowale Femi
140. Somolu Oluwakemi
141. Sparagano Lawrence
142. Stamford Ogrutse
143. Sunday Enumah
144. Taiwo Lamidi
*145. Tony Madichie-Group company secretary and Legal adviser of NNPC got on an earlier flight and thus did not board this ill-fated flight
146. Wang Yu
147. Wasa Awyetu
148. Wasa Ruth
149. Xie Zhenfeng
150. Yusuf Ali
151. Yusuf Ibrahim
152. Zhai shutao

OVER 150 FEARED DEAD AS DANA PLANE CRASHED INTO BUILDINGS. LAGOS, NIGERIA

AFP NEWS-Nigeria began three days of mourning on Monday after a plane carrying 153 people plunged into a residential area of the country’s largest city of Lagos on Sunday, with all those aboard presumed dead.
The plane, which was flying to Lagos from the capital Abuja, crashed near the airport, damaging buildings and setting off an inferno in the poor and densely populated neighbourhood.
Several people were believed to have been killed on the ground, an emergency official said, while 10 burnt bodies were removed from a damaged building in the area, which was littered with plane debris including a broken wing.


President Goodluck Jonathan declared three days of national mourning and pledged a full investigation into Sunday afternoon's disaster involving a plane operated by domestic carrier Dana Air.
AFP news agency says chaos broke out after the crash, with rescue workers facing large crowds and aggressive soldiers while trying to access smoldering wreckage in the hunt for survivors.
The cause of the crash of the Boeing MD83 was unclear, but the emergency official as well as an aviation official said the cockpit recorder had been located and handed over to police.
Skies were cloudy at the time of the crash, but there had been no rain.
Nigeria has a spotty aviation record, although Dana had been considered to be a relatively safe and reasonably efficient domestic airline since it began operating in 2008.
Officials confirmed that no survivors from the plane had been found by Sunday evening, but said search operations were continuing.


"We presume they are dead," Tunji Oketunbi, spokesman for the country's Accident Investigations Bureau, told AFP news agency, adding that definitive casualty figures would only emerge after the search and rescue operation has been completed.

UNILAG STUDENT CLASH WITH POLICE - LAGOS, NIGERIA

Armed police officers, on Friday morning besieged the Moshood Abiola University, firing tear gas into the crowd of protesting students.

The police are reportedly shooting and throwing tear gas at the students who continued their protest against the renaming of the school, after suspending it to honour the former vice chancellor of the school who was buried on Thursday.

The students, who held Lagos to a standstill on Wednesday, allegedly commenced the peaceful protest on Friday, chanting anti-government songs.

However, thugs and area boys have allegedly hijacked the peaceful protest.

The protesters, according to a source, surrounded an armoured police truck and beat on it. Police fired tear gas and students responded with a barrage of stones.

Following the protests, academic activities in the school were suspended for two weeks. Students have also been ordered to vacate the school hostels by 2p.m. on Friday.

FIVE ROASTED IN MULTIPLE TANKER COLLISION . -LAGOS, NIGERIA

No less than five persons were roasted to death in the early hours of yesterday after a multiple accident that occurred at Ibafo, a few kilometers to the Redeemed Camp when a trailer loaded with PMS, popularly called petrol, rammed into some trucks parked along the expressway.

The accident, according to an eyewitness, occurred when a trailer with registration number, Kebbi, XB370ZUR rammed into some of the petrol tankers haphazardly parked on the sides of the expressway, creating a loud bang and in the process, causing the vehicles to discharge their contents on the road.

The witness confirmed that the tankers immediately gutted fire and burnt no less than five of the motor boys while it also burnt no less than nine of the trucks.

Many other road users were stranded as there was heavy grid lock of traffic on the road.Vehicles were diverted to other areas of the road to allow thoroughfare.

Many commuters were also seen trekking a long distance as the vehicles conveying them had to make detour to other routes.
Men of the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency, TRACE and the police were seen controlling traffic.

Speaking with journalists, one of the FRSC officials who pleaded for anonymity said the accident occurred at around twelve in the morning and there was little the command could do to control the situation from degenerating to such a degree. He however thanked the fire service for its prompt response to the situation.

He said there had been several attempts by the FRSC to dissuade the tanker drivers from parking along the roads but many times, they resisted.

As at the time of filling the report, the roads were still blocked as FRSC, TRACE, police and fire fighters battled to put the situation under control.

How Abducted German Was Killed in Kano Crossfire

Edger Fritz-abducted and killed.

More facts emerged last night on the circumstances that led to the killing of an abducted German, Mr. Raupach Fritz Edgar, in a crossfire between security operatives and his abductors at the Kano hide-out of the terrorists.

Apart from Edgar, who was kidnapped in Kano on January 26 by the terrorists, four other persons lost their lives in the shoot-out.

THISDAY checks revealed that the German, who was an engineer on the employ of Dantata and Sawoe Construction Company Ltd, might have been hurriedly killed by the terrorists who had fallen under a heavy bombardment of the security forces that had traced them to their hideout at the Danbare Quarters, opposite Bayero University Kano (BUK).

“Upon search of the premises, the security forces found the handcuffed, gruesomely murdered corpse of an expatriate, later identified as the German national, Mr. Edgar, who was kidnapped since January 26, 2012 along Zaria bye-pass, Kano. The German was apparently killed by the terrorists on noticing the security forces,” spokesman of the Joint military Rask Force (JTF), Lt. Ikedichi Iweha, said.

It was further gathered that the terrorists, who were holding their “Sura Council” meeting (described as the highest decision-making organ) that had in attendance – the commanders and strategists – had their gathering cut short, when the security operatives swooped on them.

It was also learnt that, on seeing the military operatives, the terrorists opened fire that triggered what a source called an “equally high-calibre” response of fire by the operatives.

The JTF spokesman said in a press statement that: “At the early hours of this morning, Thursday, precisely at about 0635 hours, based on intelligence of an ongoing meeting of senior commanders of the terrorists elements, the JTF raided an enclave near Bayero University, Kano, new site, where the terrorists’ senior commanders were meeting.”

He further explained: “On sighting the security forces, the terrorist elements opened fire and threw improvised explosive devises (IEDs) on the security forces. The security forces responded immediately resulting in a gun duel that lasted for about 30 minutes. During the encounter five of the terrorists were killed.

“During a further search of the terrorists’ hideout, they recovered two AK- 47 rifles, huge quantity of ammunition, 36 hand grenade and improvised explosive devices stored by the terrorists for possible attacks against innocent persons and security personnel.”

A witness told THISDAY that sounds of heavy gunshots were heard in the area during the raid, while corpses of the killed terrorists were taken away in military vehicles.
The residence of the terrorists, which formed the operation ground of the gun duel, also attracted hundreds of people who had rushed there for an on-the-spot assessment or information on the attack.
Ibrahim Shuaibu-This Day