CAL plane crash-lands at CJIA
TRAGEDY struck early yesterday morning when Caribbean Airlines (CAL) flight BW523 with 157 persons on board broke in two while attempting to land at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, (CJIA) Timehri, leaving the US$38M aircraft a complete wreck. Miraculously, not a single life was lost, and for this , all on board, including the six-member cabin crew, have every reason to thank God.
Upon learning of the incident, President Bharrat Jagdeo hurried to the airport where he was able to observe first hand the wreckage on the ground.  Minister of Transport, Robeson Benn and a team of Civil Aviation Department officials also rushed to the scene to render whatever assistance they could to CAL officials.
An unconfirmed number of persons were reportedly injured and rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) where they were treated for broken limbs, trauma and shock among other injuries.
Others still badly traumatized but with no immediate sign of life-threatening injuries, were rescued by relatives who had been waiting at the airport to receive them.

Heroic act
Ironically, the hero at the centre of the rescue operations was none other than a local cleric, Pastor Michael Nedd of the United Pentecostal Church headquartered at Lamaha and Campbell Streets, Newtown, who courageously broke the window to the emergency exit and pulled the lever down, by which means persons were able to exit the plane and run for their lives, fearing the craft would have burst into flames any minute.
Pastor Nedd and his wife Deborah were returning home after spending five weeks in the United States.
Cringing as they recalled the harrowing experience, passengers said it was around 01:30hrs when the flight ran into difficulty. It reportedly left Kennedy Airport around 18:00hrs en route to Guyana via Trinidad’s Piarco Airport.
They said that as the flight approached CJIA, the aircraft, without warning, made a sudden drop, hit the runway, picked up speed and shot over a ravine before plummeting into a sandbank where it came to a halt. By then, it had broken in two. 

Scampering to safety
According to reports, visibility was poor, as it was a bleak and stormy night. Passengers also recalled hearing a loud crashing noise as the plane hit the runway, and the children onboard, who had innocently believed they were home safe and dry, were loudly cheering and saying: “We’re home, we’re home.” The next thing they knew the lights on the aircraft went out and that’s when pandemonium broke loose.
Mrs. Nedd said she immediately began calling on the name of Jesus, repeatedly, affirming her trust that he could save them all. Luckily for the couple, whose flight stubs were numbered 12A and 12B, they had been sitting right next to the emergency exit, and as such were able to spring into action when the need arose.
Said the pastor: “I was the first to take the jump, and rolled under the plane.” He then reached out and caught his wife as she jumped after him. Soon after there was a stampede as passengers forced their way through the emergency exit.
As one recalled: “The sound we heard is something we would not forget in a hurry, and before we realized what was happening, parts of the aircraft began falling on us.” Another said there were lots of children on board, while one Phil Greenidge said that all that transpired happened in a split second, and was very agonizing.  “Those kids went through so much… Some were heard saying they don’t want to come back to Guyana, ever,” she said.
Pastor Nedd said that from the time he hit ground, he began smelling aircraft fuel and immediately knew they had to run for their lives before there was an explosion.  Within minutes, he said, persons living behind the airport who had heard the loud crash, began running out, some of them in their nightgowns, to help passengers from the ill-fated aircraft to safety.  
He recalled that one woman had a cellular phone, which he borrowed and was able to call his son who was already at the airport waiting for the flight to touch down.
“It took about 15 to 20 minutes before help came along, but the villagers and our relatives who saw what had happened managed to get to us,” another woman said, but declined to give her name.
Meantime, the Timehri Fire Department, located on the outskirts of the airport, dispatched a fire tender to the scene, which was how rescue operators were able to get a bit of light to carry out their tasks.

Cause unknown
Local airport officials could not offer any comment on the cause of the disaster, nor could a high-powered team from CAL’s Trinidad headquarters who hurriedly flew in on learning of the disaster, as passengers were very vocal as they vividly recounted what took place.

The CAL team was led by company Chairman, Mr. George M. Nicholas III, who held a press conference with members of the local media at the airport. The other members of the team were Captain Thomas Lawrence, Vice President Operations; Mr. Colville Carrington, Vice President Maintenance and Engineering; and Ms. Laura Asbjornsen, Head of Corporate Department.
Apologising for the ordeal he knew passengers and crewmembers endured, Nicholas said the company first learnt of the accident around 01:30hrs, following which they held an emergency meeting at Piarco to address the matter. He said they have since been working in collaboration with the Guyanese authorities at the CJIA, and that the National Transport Safety Board in the United States of America had also been alerted as to the situation.

Good rescue job
That said, he credited the aircraft’s crew with having done a wonderful job at evacuating everyone on board, and announced that arrangements were already put in place for a post-trauma team and psychiatric personnel from Trinidad to arrive in Guyana by yesterday afternoon to be of service to the affected persons.
While claiming CAL did not have sufficient information at hand to give a reason/reasons for the mishap, Nicholas said that the ‘black-box’ and recording of voices will be received by Monday.  “As for the reason, at this time we do not know,” he emphasized.
Noting that in the 25 years the airline has been servicing Guyana it has never had such a disaster, he gave every assurance that CAL fully intends to continue doing business with Guyana and will be here for the long haul.
Asked about the pilot’s experience in flying in these parts, particularly his knowledge of the route to Timehri, Nicholas said he has been flying for about 25 years, and is equally knowledgeable of the airport and runway at Timehri. But he was unable to give the name of the pilot, or say what injuries crew members or passengers suffered, if any. He however hinted that some of the injured persons would be at the Georgetown Hospital, while others would have been treated and sent away. There were also unconfirmed reports that the pilot may have suffered a broken leg.
Nicholas also confirmed that the pilot and crew who flew the carrier out of New York were not the same ones on the leg from Trinidad to Guyana. He said the entire crew had been changed in Trinidad and that having personally spoken with them on his arrival here, was assured they had done a good job rescuing the passengers.

Losses
In the pandemonium, many passengers complained of having lost or dropped bags containing tickets, passport, money and boarding pass.  Asked how would persons be able to verify claim to luggage without their boarding passes, Nicholas said systems were in place to take care of such things.  Around noon yesterday, passengers were informed via the airport PA system that they would be able to uplift their hand-luggage by 15:00hrs, and suitcases and bigger baggage a bit later. Many complained that since the tragedy, they’d had nothing to eat while lingering around the airport waiting to get their baggage; that all they’d been given was coffee and water, and it was already going on 14:00hrs, some 12 hrs since the accident occurred.

Others with destinations such as Bartica and Berbice claimed that having lost their money, they were in a fix, since they could not pay to move from the airport, and had no way of knowing what their next move would be. 

When these concerns were raised by the media with Nicholas, he said the airline has a Customer Care Department which addresses such issues, meaning that the passengers need not worry. He seemed more concerned with the way things turned out, given the circumstances. “… it was an absolute miracle that everyone escaped out of the aircraft alive,” was all he kept saying, ad nauseum.                                                    

Business as usual
As to how the tragedy would affect future flights in and out of Guyana over the next few days or hours?  Nicholas said business would continue as per usual.  At the time of speaking, one CAL flight had already arrived in Guyana and another was preparing to leave. LIAT also had an arrival. And so, for Caribbean Airlines, it will be business as usual, the Chairman assured.