If help had come early, the over 140 persons, who died in the Dana commercial air
plane crash at Iju, Lagos on sunday, might have still been alive today, residents have said. According to them, the aircraft did not explode
immediately it crashed. It exploded after about 20 minutes.
An eyewitness said the incident happened
between 3pm and 4pm. Narrating how the crash happened, an
eyewitness, who claimed anonymity noted that the aircraft was seen swinging
before it eventually landed on a newly constructed storey building.
‘’I was here with my wife and other people when
we saw the plane moving around in random directions. Initially we were confused,
but when it was getting usually close to the rooftop of the houses around, we
stood up and traced were it eventually landed,’’ he noted.
Continuing, the eyewitness said, ‘’When we go
to the scene, we saw the plane on the building and it did not explode upon
landing.
The only fire from the aircraft was from the cockpit which was not
much. It was only ten of us that first got to the scene. That little fire would
have been quenchable if there was immediate emergency response from fire
fighters. We were even using sachets of pure water to put off the fire before we
heard loud explosion after 20 minutes.’’
It was further gathered that the absence of
emergency response from concerned authorities, prompted one of the eyewitnesses
at the scene to call the Chairperson of Local the Government, who informed the
Lagos State Government.
‘’When we discovered that emergency rescue
service was not on sight, my wife had to call the chairperson of the local
government, who informed Fashola’s people. It was that call that altered the
authorities. But if the rescue service had arrived on time, they would have been
saved because there was no fire when the plane landed on the buildings.
The
pilot of the aircraft was very brave because we noticed it from the way the
aircraft was swinging before it crashed,’’ another eye said.
What could have turned into another tragedy,
occurred when the men of the Nigerian Army started dispersing sympathisers at
the scene when they arrived