Plane crash death toll rises
2003-12-27 18:48
Beirut - At least 141 people were killed when a Beirut-bound Boeing 727 crashed in the west African state of Benin on Christmas Day, a Lebanese doctor who helped to repatriate the wounded from Cotonou said on Saturday.
"There are 141 dead. We have repatriated 17 injured Lebanese as well as two Palestinians and a Syrian," said Ghattas Khoury, former president of the Lebanese doctors' association.
"Among the injured, six are in serious condition, including two who need intensive care, and the other 14 have multiple fractures," he added.
Another member of the delegation, including Foreign Minister Jean Obeid, sent to accompany the survivors home had said earlier that 11 wounded passengers arrived early on Saturday in Beirut.
The Lebanese government flew them back on a special Middle Eastern Airlines, Lebanon's national carrier.
Benin has put the official death toll at 130, after the Union des Transports Africains (UTA) plane on Thursday botched its take-off, skidded down the runway at Cotonou, smashed into a building and nose-dived into the Gulf of Guinea.
Benin's Foreign Minister Rogatien Biaou said on Saturday that 130 bodies had been recovered so far and 10 people were still missing.