Light plane crashed in Toliara, Madagascar [Archive]

Istorik

25th Oct 2006, 08:30

ANTANANARIVO, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Six people died when their light plane crashed shortly after takeoff in the southwest of Madagascar, the transport minister said on Wednesday.

Both Madagascan pilots and all four foreign passengers, whose nationalities were not known, died, he said.

"A small plane belonging to a private airline, la Société de Transport Aérien, crashed at about 4.15 am in Toliara ... killing 6 people," Roland Randriamampionona, Minister of Transport and Public Works, said on national radio.

Francis Ramanantsoa, director of the regional tourism office who was on the scene after the accident, said the crash happened about 1 km (0.6 miles) from the runway.

"The plane caught fire and the six bodies were all burnt to ashes," he told Reuters by phone.

The transport minister said an inquest had been set up to determine the cause of the crash.

theRealFlyingNomad

26th Oct 2006, 13:53

Hi folks, the article is in French, so I 'll try my best to translate it!

SIX PEOPLE DIED IN A CRASH AROUND TULEAR ( Toliara in Malgache - Toliary in English )

After he left early this morning at 4 am to go back to Antananarivo, the STA's Cessna 425, registrated 5R MGV crashed two minuts only after the take off. None on board survived this terrible accident.
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(I remove the unnessesary lines...article is two pages long!!!)

The village of Ankaiasy, situated 1,5 km north-East of the Airport woke up last night at the sound of the crash of the aircraft.
6 were on board, two malagasy crew, and 4 italian passenger.

This last were buisness men in mining compagnies. (...)
"from my house I heard the unusual sound of a plane, a sound that was not normal. when i went out to look at the sky, I saw a plane flying, but I noticed it was already in fire, it then hit the ground just before to explode. everything hapend very fast."

(...) some more person said they also saw a fire ball gliding in the sky, but could not see the object in the obscurity. but a few minuts later, a powerful blast arrived to the village.

One hour later, some smoke was still visible, and the fired bodies of the 6's were still straped on their seats. they were impossible to recognize.
The plane was totaly burned, except the rear fuselage. An awful spectacle.

DIFFERENT HYPOTHESIS

(...) military and civilian authorities came directly on the crash site. (...) some say the visibility was the reasion of the crash at that very early period of the Day. Some other say the reason is purely a mechanical problem, especially after the witness's words. That put the aircraft in a stall situation. This last hypothesis seems to be the favourite one.

(...) the final position of the A/C in relation to the runway let specialist think the pilot tried to make an emergency landing, or even to come back to the airport.

(...) The aircraft was leased from STA the day before yesterday for avisit flight to a digging site. This is when they came back very early on their way back to the capital the crash happened.

The bodies of the victims flew back to Antananarivo yesterday evening in a regular Air Madagascar flight.

Victim names:
Carlo Pozzi
Elvezio Domeniconi
Angelo Corvini
Gianluca Marcolini
Zo Randriampenomanana (crew)
Stephane Rarivoson (crew)

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Sorry for my English mistakes,

Respect to the victims and their relatives. Life goes on...

The Real Flying Nomad, lost in Madagascar