An eyewitness, Collins Chukwukanne, who lives within the area, said they noticed the Dana plane swerving in the air from Pipeline area towards a church, End Time Gospel Ministry International.
According to him, “we were all confused and tried to run when we noticed that the plane was coming down.
“But at a point it tried to climb up again but unfortunately one of its wings got entangled in a mango tree and broke off, while the plane caught fire.
“As the wing fell off the body, the remaining part of the plane crashed into a two-storey building beside the tree then into yet another building and then into a factory before the nose finally crashed into the church.
“An explosion followed immediately after and the whole place was set on fire. Some of the residents of the affected buildings ran out but others were not so lucky.”
Collins said immediately the incident happened, “we started calling all emergency lines but there was no positive response until around 4.00 p.m. when the first rescue team came.”
Meanwhile, another resident in the area told The Guardian that they tried to stop the fire but it was too severe.
“We were seeing roasted bodies falling off from the tree and the building. It was a horrible disaster and I pray never to witness it again.”
It was however unfortunate that the location of the disaster did not make the rescue operations any easier. The access routes were too bad for vehicles to pass. Even trucks with rescue equipment could not easily be moved into the area.
A resident, Bode David, who flayed the emergency team for coming late to the scene, said some of the affected buildings could have been saved.
Another eyewitness said that he was out with his friends at the Powerline when they sighted the plane approaching and noticed that it was unusual flight.
“It was unstable like your driving a car and swerving its steering. It was coming down and about aiming at the near-by Longe Hospital. But before it got there, it picked up again. But soon it started coming down again. It was one of the wings that touched a mango tree and the plane caught fire mid-air and crash-landed into the building. That was around 2.30 p.m.
“We were calling security number 112 among other numbers but they were just speaking grammar. They did not come until around 4.00 p.m. for an incident that happened before 2.30 p.m. If they had come on time, this building (pointing) wouldn’t have burnt completely. They came late.” he said.
Policemen first arrived. “We were actually disappointed because in a situation like this, we expected the Fire Service to make the first response. After the police, we heard sirens approaching and about 30 minutes later, the Fire Service water came,” David said.
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index...nal&Itemid=559