This morning around 0800Z, the HS748 of Gabon Express crashed near a beach north of Libreville. There were 27 POB, including 4 crew. All the crew are alive, and between 4 and 6 passengers have been fished out (at 1030Z, but the search continues).
The guys apparently had an engine failure during the initial climb, after a takeoff from runway 16 in Libreville. They turned back to land, but they were not quite aligned for runway 34, so they did a low pass with the gear down and a prop feathered, and announced they were aiming at the beach.
The aircraft sunk fairly quick, and only its tail remains out of the water now. Fishermen brought the first survivors back to the shore. Then the firemen and ambulances and policemen and their brothers arrived in a huge mess, without any real idea of what to do, or any equipment to do it... They essentially started turning around the wreck in a small Police boat, and they were still doing that 2h30 after the crash. The large crowd watching them from the beach was so pissed of against these so-called 'emergency services' that they almost started a riot...
