A Kenya Airways jet that crashed after take-off in Cameroon on Saturday with 114 people on board is largely submerged in swamp and there is no chance of survivors, Cameroon’s civil protection service said on Monday.
”There are no chances that there will be any survivors because almost the entire body of the plane was buried inside the swamp,” Jean-Pierre Nana, director of Cameroon’s civil protection department and a member of a crisis working group set up by the prime minister, told Reuters.
The Boeing 737-800 vanished early on Saturday shortly after leaving Douala for Nairobi in torrential rain. The aircraft was found late on Sunday not far from Douala airport after nearly two days of fruitless searches more than 100km further south.
In a morning news bulletin, Cameroon’s state radio said ”All the people on board the plane perished as there was no sign of survivors”.
The radio said the plane had been discovered 20km south-east of Douala by a hunter, who alerted local authorities.
South African businesses have confirmed that several of their employees were on board the plane.
MTN said four of their employees were travelling to South Africa on business.
They were MTN Cameroon chief executive Campbell Utton, chief financial officer Sarah Stewart, and Patrick Njamfa and Patrice Enam. Stewart’s husband, Adam James, was also on the flight.
Chevron SA confirmed that two of its employees were on board.
”They are Gordon Wright, who is a South African, and Stuart Claisse who is a British citizen,” said a spokesperson.
Automation technology group ABB SA said Gerard Kanda (55), Cornelius Hermanus Van der Westhuizen (33) and subcontractor Hans Peter Weder (67) were on the flight.
Kanda is a Congo-Brazzaville citizen who has lived in South Africa for ten years, the Witness reported on its website. A father of four children, Kanda apparently telephoned his son before boarding the flight on Friday night.
Van der Westhuizen’s wife Maryke, told the paper that she first heard of the crash while on her way to the airport to fetch him on Saturday.
He was due to graduate with a B.Tech degree in electrical engineering from Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria on Tuesday.
The couple has a 20-month-old son.
ABB’s CEO Carlos Pone said: ”We are shocked and deeply saddened by the news of this tragedy. Our thoughts are with the next of kin at this time of grief and sorrow.
Other people on board included 35 Cameroonians, 15 Indians, six Chinese, six Ivorians, six Nigerians, and five Britons.
The Associated Press reported that one of the missing Indians, Chauhan Amol, was the nephew of business tycoon Ramesh Chauhan. – Sapa