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Authorities launch formal investigation into Suriname plane crash
An official investigation has been launched into the cause of
Thursday's plane crash in Suriname, with the establishment of a special
investigation commission by prosecutor general Subhas Punwasi. The
commission comprises aviation and forensic experts, police and military
officers. Government officials travelled to the crash site on Friday
to start the investigation.
According to John Veira, Head of
the National Aviation Department, the commission is established for six
months, but he has his doubts that the investigations will be completed
within that time.
"Similar investigations in the past have
shown that these investigations normally take one and a half year to
complete," he told reporters, adding that the commission has started
collecting information from eyewitnesses and other individuals in a bid
to piece together what could have caused the crash.
Meanwhile, a
team of six forensic experts from the Netherlands arrived in Suriname
on Friday to help identify the 19 victims killed in , vice-president
Ram Sardjoe told reporters. Another nine experts from the Netherlands
are expected on Saturday while France will send three experts to assist
in the investigation.
Aviation engineers will examine debris
from the ill-fated airplane looking for answers. Initial reports
indicate, however, that human error should not be ruled out, since
weather conditions were normal at the time of the crash.
Investigators
shortly after the aircraft plunged into the woods some 150 meters
parallel to the Lawa Antino airstrip near Benzdorp found a piece of the
exhaust of one of the plane's engines suggesting that engine faillure
might have also contributed to the mishap.
According to
accounts of eyewitnesses, the plane was already in its landing approach
when the pilot tried to pull up again. However, the aircraft suddenly
veered left and plunged nose down into the woods, followed by at least
three explosions.
The twin-engined Antonov AN-28 aircraft
operated by Blue Wing Airlines crashed in a remote jungle area at the
gold-mining village of Benzdorp close to the border with French Guiana.
Due to the tragedy, President Ronald Venetiaan cancelled his
trip to Trinidad and Tobago on Friday, were he was to attend a special
Caricom Summit on crime and security.
While the relatives,
friends and loved ones of the victims are still trying to come to terms
with the country’s second worst civil aviation tragedy, authorities
have not yet released the official passenger list. Rescue teams on
Thursday recovered the remains of all the victims, which were
subsequently transported to the capital Paramaribo.
Vice-president
Sardjoe said that the authorities are not releasing the names of the
victims since identification still has to be done. He noted that the
bodies currently are under the authority of the prosecutor-general
since the judicial investigation has started. How long the
identification process will take, the government official couldn't say.
Jerrel van Embriqs, manager of Hi-Jet Rescue Operations, told
reporters that shortly after the crash local miners and villagers
rushed to the site and extinguished the fire by throwing dirt on the
wreckage with an excavator.
“It is indescribable what we have
seen at the crash site. There were 19 bodies to recover including two
children and that was the hardest part,” said Van Embriqs.
Gold-miners
transported rescue workers to the crash site with their all-terrain
vehicles, while they also helped to transport the bodies of the victims
to the airstrip where the ill-fated plane was supposed to land.
In
extending condolences to the relatives of the victims, Venetiaan noted
that the government will take steps to improve the safety of the
airstrips in the country’s interior. The local airfields lack
air-traffic control systems, forcing pilots to rely on their individual
experience during landing and take-off. However, aviation authorities
and rescue coordinators were quick to refute claims that safety at the
Benzdorp airstrip might have contributed to the accident.
Lieutenant-Colonel
Jerry Slijngaard, Head of the National Coordinating Center for Disaster
Management (NCCR) told reporters that initial investigations reveal
that conditions at the airstrip and also the weather were excellent.
“Given
the information we have now, this accident could have happened at any
other airstrip,” he said. Slijngaard, however, was reluctant to say if
human failure was the cause of the mishap, deferring to completion of
the official investigations.
The French government has
confirmed that six French nationals died in the crash and French
president Nicholas Sarkozy has extended condolences to the family of
the victims. These six victims are said to be from the same family from
the village Antecume Pata on the French side of the Marowijne River,
near Benzdorp.
Sources told Caribbean Net News that
the family of four, both parents and two children, the grandfather and
a sister of the mother were returning home after shopping in
Paramaribo. According to the chief of Antecume Pata, the villagers were
expected tor return Thursday with the ill-fated flight.
Meanwhile, several foreign countries and agencies have offered assistance to Suriname to overcome the tragedy.
Foreign
Affairs minister from the Netherlands, Maxime Verhagen, expressed shock
over the plane crash. While offering condolences to the Surinamese
people, he said in an official statement that the tragedy “is not only
affecting the Surinamese people, but also the Surinamese community in
the Netherlands and the Dutch people.” He further noted that the Dutch
government is ready to assist Suriname.
Officials indicate
that establishing the identity of the victims will be a grim task since
all the bodies were burnt beyond recognition. Suriname lacks the
forensic expertise to identify such remains.
Following the
country’s worst aviation accident in June 1989, when a DC-9 from
Surinam Airways crashed close to the international Zanderij Airport
killing 176 passengers, several victims still remain unidentified.
Blue
Wing, which has operated since 2002, was barred by the European Union
from landing at European airports in June 2006 after French aviation
officials found safety deficiencies during an inspection of planes. The
airline was removed from the blacklist in November 2007 after the
company had resolved the issues.
Source: CaribbeanNetNews
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