The tale of a Mafia plane crash survivor
What you need to know:
The light aircraft lost its way as it tried to take off, hitting a wall then exploded into flames.
Dar es Salaam. It is not often that many people survive a plane crashes but two days ago, in Mafia Island, nine people were able to cheat death in plain sight. They survived to tell the tale.
On that fateful morning, a Tropical Air light aircraft was on its way to Dar es Salaam from the Indian Ocean Island but just as it tried to take off, it lost its way and crashed and later exploding into flames.
All nine passengers on board were rescued in time before they could get trapped in the flame, three walked away unscathed, something that the Rufiji Police commander Onesmo Lyanga calls a ‘miracle’.
However, for Hassan Bakari and three passengers had to be hospitalized at the Muhimbili Orthopedic Institute (MOI) after being transferred from the Mafia District Hospital the day before yesterday, as they suffered from injuries.
Bakari got burns in the face, hands, neck and chest, but he says he is indeed lucky to be alive.
“I can’t personally talk about the source of the accident because I wasn’t the pilot, but we were flying from Mafia to Dar es Salaam, and around 10am while the plane was about to take off it left the runway and hit the wall,” he said
He says they were all able to leave the wreckage before it could explode into flames though they were not lucky to leave with their belongings.
Though still visibly in pain from the burns that he suffered, he can afford a smile and continues to count his blessings.
Speaking about the accident, The District Commissioner of Pwani, Shaibu Mmunduma said that experts from the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) have arrived in Mafia, from Dar es Salaam for further investigation.
“One of the survivors is still being treated in Mafia due to high blood pressure which made it impossible to transport him to Dar es Salaam, but all others were transferred,” added Shaibu.
