Equatorial Guinea YAK40 crash - Annobon

[Heli-Jet]

Equatorial Guinea Says Four Dead, Several Missing, in Plane CrashBy Uma Ramiah
Dakar
16 April 2008


Four people are dead and seven missing after a jet carrying officials from Equatorial Guinea's ruling political party plunged into the Gulf of Guinea Wednesday morning. Uma Ramiah reports for the VOA from our West Africa bureau in Dakkar.
http://www.voanews.com/english/images/equatorial_guinea_210.jpgEquatorial GuineaThe plane crashed at sea while trying to land on the island of Annobon, a government spokesperson of the oil rich, tropical West African country said Wednesday.
Journalist Rodrigo Angue Nguema, in the capital Malabo, said passengers onboard were members of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema's Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea.
Airport officials told the French news agency AFP the plane was carrying government ministers, lawmakers and senior officials from Annobon.
The officials were headed to Annobon, 435 miles southwest of Malabo, to launch a political campaign.
Equatorial Guinea is set to hold legislative elections on May 4.
The journalist said the Russian-made jet belonging to the country's ministry of defense was carrying five crew members and six passengers. The flight originated from Bata, Equatorial Guinea's economic hub on the mainland.
There was no immediate word on the cause of the crash.
Equatorial Guinea's planes are blacklisted by the European Union on grounds of safety. They are not allowed to travel in EU airspace.
Equatorial Guinea is one of the largest oil producers in sub-Saharan Africa, but despite a growing economy, the country remains at the bottom of a United Nations index measuring development.

[rabidpangolin]

Sad. Wonder if that is the same Yak-40 that used to bark on all three on take off. FGAN can be tricky when the cloud is low...and the mountain high.

On a lighter note. I read a great one today: "Nguema's Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea" :ugh::D

Mind the tail!

[Vialengai]

Pangolin...good to see you back on prune....tally ho!

[jagunmolu]

Really sad,how come theres a news blackout on this accident,only reported by THE VOA,any other link to confirm this occurence?:suspect:

[I.R.PIRATE]

Couldnt happen to nicer people. It actually makes me believe there is hope for this continent.

[Heli-Jet]

Plane crashes off coast of Equatorial Guinea

Australian News.Net
Wednesday 16th April, 2008
Eleven passengers and crew are feared dead in an air crash off the West African coast.

An aircraft from Equatorial Guinea crashed into the sea as it was about to land on the remote Atlantic island of Annobon.

Four bodies have been recovered.

The plane, an Antonov-24 belonging to the Defence Ministry, was carrying leaders of Equatorial Guinea's ruling party, including government ministers.

On Friday an election campaign is due to start on Annobon, a province of Equatorial Guinea with some 5,000 inhabitants.

[Heli-Jet]

Govt MPs feared dead in E Guinea plane crash

Posted Thu Apr 17, 2008 5:15am AEST
At least four people were killed and seven went missing when a plane crashed into the sea off the Equatorial Guinea island of Annobon, the Malabo Government announced.
"A tragic air accident happened today at 2:23pm (local time). It concerns an Antonov-32 of the air force of Equatorial Guinea which left Bata for the insular province of Annobon with five crew members and six passengers," Government spokesman Santiago Nsobeya Efuman said on public radio.
Earlier, airport sources said a plane carrying leaders of Equatorial Guinea's ruling party, including Government Ministers, crashed at sea, without stating whether there were any casualties.
"Efforts to find survivors have for the moment led to the recovery of four lifeless bodies," Nsobeya Efuman said, adding that rescue work was still under way.
Annobon is a remote Atlantic island about 700 kilometres south-west of the tropical African country's capital Malabo and 350 kilometres off the coast of Gabon.
The plane had flown from Equatorial Guinea's economic capital, Bata, which is on the continental African part of the former Spanish colony, made up mostly of dense tropical rain forest.
Malabo is itself on an island, Bioko.

[Istorik]

Reports from Africa indicate the An-32 3C-5GE landed too far on the wet short runway, overrun and fell into the ocean from the steep coast. This runway is shown here:
http://i029.radikal.ru/0804/61/fa7bf1432b76.jpg

[Heli-Jet]

Radio says that the Antonov 32 crashed into the ocean Wednesday afternoon after missing the runway at Annobon airport.
The number of people on board is unclear. The radio report put the figure at 13, but government officials say only 11 people were on board. Meanwhile, witnesses at the airport say there were nearly 80 people on the plane.

[NZFlyingKiwi]

80 people on an AN-32; I dearly hope that's not a correct figure! :sad:

[diegolev]

If you pay an "extra" to crew, you can fly even in an military aircraft. In Equatorial Guinea it's the normal procedure. In 2005, a civil flight from SSG to BSG, Antonov 24 with 40 pax capacity (80 people on board) crash during take off.

[helldog]

Yeah went to this strip quite a bit while I was in EG. It was quite tight in the old Shed. So certainly short for the types being mentioned.