Benin in mourning
2003-12-27 16:19
Cotonou - The death toll from a plane crash in the West African nation of Benin rose to at least 128 on Saturday, as more bodies washed onto a debris-littered shore and the country began three days of national mourning.
State television said 120 dead had been recovered from the crash site by the time authorities called off a search for survivors late Friday. The majority of the casualties were Lebanese.
On Saturday, eight more bloated bodies washed ashore. Medical teams loaded them onto ambulances and took them to morgues in Cotonou, the commercial capital.
There was still no word on what caused Thursday's crash, but Lebanese foreign minister Jean Obeid said in Beirut after a day-trip to Benin that the aircraft may have been overloaded.
"It appears that the number of passengers exceeds the normal number, in addition to the load, which it appears was very much in excess," he told reporters after arriving from Cotonou with 15 Lebanese survivors.
The Boeing 727 had 161 people aboard when it clipped an airport building just after take-off in Cotonou and plunged into the Atlantic Ocean on Christmas Day.
In the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, the military said it feared 15 of the dead were Bangladeshi peacekeepers serving in peacekeeping missions in the war-ravaged West African nations of Sierra Leone and Liberia.
More than 20 people, including a pilot, survived the tragedy, but dozens are still missing and believed dead.
Two of the corpses which washed ashore on Saturday were Iranian citizens, said Mohammed Reza Samara, an Iranian diplomat based in neighbouring Nigeria who came to retrieve the bodies.
Huge chunks of the shattered Boeing 727 still on the beach Saturday, including a smashed wing, two destroyed engines and cockpit, laying on its side. The bulk of the plane was hauled onto the beach with the help of tractors Friday, and rescue teams and local fishermen pulled scraps of mangled metal onto the beach.
Onlookers still thronged the scene, and with no police or security forces guarding the site, young boys searched through the pockets of torn clothes pockets and sifted through ripped baggage for valuables to loot. Some lounged on tattered aircraft seats from the downed plane.
Benin's government ordered the start of three days of national morning, and flags were lowered at government buildings in the impoverished country of 9 million as a mark of respect to the victims.
A military cargo plane sent by France arrived in Cotonou late Friday and was waiting to airlift corpses to Beirut on Saturday.
"Right now we're working to identify the bodies to get them ready for evacuation today, and with new bodies found this morning and the ones found earlier, I think we have a lot of work to do," said Ayoub Ali, a Lebanese official coordinating the evacuation.
On Friday, survivors recounted horrifying stories of the crash, while Lebanese families lined beaches to identify family members or friends.
"I can't bear to think what has become of them," said Karim Jumblat, a Lebanese man waiting for news of three brothers who were heading home to spend the holidays with their parents.
"If only they had waited a few days more," Jumblat, who was to follow his brothers a few days later, said before turning to wipe away tears.
- SAPA