KQ507: Relatives battle for IDs

2007-05-09 22:28

Desmond Thompson and Media24 Africa office

Nairobi - Next-of-kin are struggling to get the remains of their loved ones identified, nearly a week after a Kenyan Airways (KQ) Boeing crashed in rough terrain in Cameroon, killing everyone on board.

"There's no progress. They don't want to allow us into the mortuary," said Estrelita January on Wednesday by cellphone from Cameroon.

"I have a boy at home who has lost his daddy, but before I leave here I at least want to identify something that belonged to my husband."

Her husband, Charles, was one of nine South African citizens on board flight KQ 507, which crashed shortly after taking off on Friday night from Douala, a harbour town in southwestern Cameroon.

Not one of the 114 passengers and crew survived.

A difficult process

By Wednesday, more than 80 bodies and a large number of body parts had been collected at the crash site, about 5km northeast of the airport's runway.

Evanson Mwaniki, chairperson of KQ, said at a media conference in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, that the process was "difficult in the extreme".

The Boeing 737-800 aircraft flew nose-first into a mangrove swamp surrounded by dense jungle. The impact created a deep crater. The nose cone of the jet is buried deep in the mud of the mangrove swamp.

Rescue teams are struggling to pump away enough water to get at the wreck.

Wreckage, body parts and personal possessions of the passengers and crew are strewn over a 300m radius in the swamp and surrounding jungle.

Reporters at the site say the air is thick with the smell of decomposing bodies and jet fuel.

January said from the hotel at which she's staying in Douala: "It's very confused here. Nobody really helps you. I am beyond desperate."

She arrived in Kenya from South Africa on Sunday, and flew to Cameroon on Monday.

Tony Msimanga, South Africa's High Commissioner in Kenya, saw her off at Nairobi Airport.

Semeon Ripinga, South Africa's ambassador in Cameroon, said on Wednesday that he did not know at first that January was in Cameroon and needed help.

"I'm sending a consular official immediately to help her and to find out what's holding things up at the mortuary."

"I can't take it any more. I must get home," said January, who was planning to leave Cameroon late on Wednesday evening on a Kenya Airways flight.

More going to Cameroon

Seven next-of-kin of other South Africans on the doomed flight were planning to travel on Wednesday evening from Johannesburg to Nairobi, and from there to Cameroon.

Glenn Lewington, a spokesperson for KQ in Johannesburg said: "We'll be arriving in Douala on Friday afternoon, and there's another group coming on Saturday."

- Die Burger