Man pulls 3 to safety from plane crash fire
Source: Agencies |
October 19, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A MAN escaped from a blazing aircraft and saved three of his fellow passengers after the plane crashed in Botswana, killing eight people.
Rescuers ferried buckets of water from a swamp to douse the fire after the single-propeller Cessna carrying 12 people crashed shortly after takeoff.
Those who died included the British pilot and seven tourists from France, Switzerland and Britain, an official and rescue workers said yesterday.
Botswana's Monitor newspaper quoted one survivor, vehicle inspector Bernard Lottering, as saying after the aircraft crashed he kicked out a window and escaped.
As the plane caught fire, he pulled out his colleague and dragged two other passengers to safety. The paper said it interviewed Lottering at his hospital bed in Botswana.
The crash occurred on Friday in the southern African nation's remote Okavango Delta, according to spokesman Modipe Nkwe of the Civil Aviation Authority.
Swiss Foreign Ministry spokesman Pierre-Alain Eltschinger said initial indications were that the plane crashed because of a fire on board.
Britain, France and Switzerland confirmed they had citizens aboard the flight. The survivors appear to be two Botswanans and two French.
Nkwe said rescuers from the Civil Aviation Authority as well as soldiers and police flew from Maun, the biggest town in the delta, to the scene of the crash at Xakanaka bush airfield, arriving while the aircraft was still on fire.
Two of the rescuers said they carried buckets of water from a swamp to fight the blaze.
The plane was bound for a luxury safari camp on Pom Pom island, a site in the heart of the delta.
Rescuers ferried buckets of water from a swamp to douse the fire after the single-propeller Cessna carrying 12 people crashed shortly after takeoff.
Those who died included the British pilot and seven tourists from France, Switzerland and Britain, an official and rescue workers said yesterday.
Botswana's Monitor newspaper quoted one survivor, vehicle inspector Bernard Lottering, as saying after the aircraft crashed he kicked out a window and escaped.
As the plane caught fire, he pulled out his colleague and dragged two other passengers to safety. The paper said it interviewed Lottering at his hospital bed in Botswana.
The crash occurred on Friday in the southern African nation's remote Okavango Delta, according to spokesman Modipe Nkwe of the Civil Aviation Authority.
Swiss Foreign Ministry spokesman Pierre-Alain Eltschinger said initial indications were that the plane crashed because of a fire on board.
Britain, France and Switzerland confirmed they had citizens aboard the flight. The survivors appear to be two Botswanans and two French.
Nkwe said rescuers from the Civil Aviation Authority as well as soldiers and police flew from Maun, the biggest town in the delta, to the scene of the crash at Xakanaka bush airfield, arriving while the aircraft was still on fire.
Two of the rescuers said they carried buckets of water from a swamp to fight the blaze.
The plane was bound for a luxury safari camp on Pom Pom island, a site in the heart of the delta.
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