The Hindu : Front Page : Boom heard before crash

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Sunday, May 06, 2007
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Boom heard before crash

Plane's wreckage yet to be spotted

YAOUNDE (Cameroon): A Kenya Airways jet with 114 persons on board crashed early on Saturday after sending out a distress signal over a remote rainforest in southern Cameroon, officials said. Nearby villagers reported hearing a loud boom.

The jet bound for the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, went down near the town of Lolodorf, about 250 km south of the coastal city of Douala, where it had taken off after midnight, said an official.

There was no word on survivors, he said, speaking by telephone en route to the crash site. He said search planes were flying over the forested area where the airliner gave off a distress signal, but no wreckage had been spotted.

He said residents in the area, which has few roads and is dotted by small villages, reported hearing a ``large boom'' during the night.

Rain

Kenya Airways CEO Titus Naikuni said the plane, which was almost new, took off an hour late because of rain. Transport Minister Ali Chirau Makwere said it was too early to determine the cause. ``We need to get information from the technical experts as to whether it was occasioned by the weather or pilot error or mechanical fault,'' he said in Nairobi. ``We really don't know. It's too early to make any conclusions.''

The Boeing 737-800 was carrying 114 persons , including 105 passengers, from at least 23 countries, said Kenyan airline officials.

Relatives waiting at Nairobi's airport began wailing as news reports of the crash filtered in. Dozens of family members collapsed in the airport terminal. One person said families had not been given any information.

— AP

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