Tag Archives: plane crash

See recent pictures of Danbaba Suntai, former Governor of Taraba state.

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New pictures have emerged of Danbaba Suntai, the former governor of Taraba State who unfortunately was involved in an air crash after their private plane, Cessna 208 aircraft marked 5N-BMJ, crashed in Yola, Adamawa State capital. some years ago.

Governor Suntai, who was in a critical condition at the German Specialist  Hospital in Yola, was said to be piloting the small aircraft at the time of the incident.  The plane hit the ground behind the NNPC depot, along Yola-Numan Road at about 7 pm.

Just today a Twitter user tweeted recent pictures of the former governor in what seems like a care home. Recall that the accident left him severely impaired as a result of a brain damage.

See the tweet below:

Flight MH370 victim’s families say search for the missing plane must continue

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The search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 must continue, relatives of passengers on the plane have said after officials confirmed the suspension of the search on Tuesday.

The group, Voice370, said in a statement that it was dismayed by the announcement from the Australian government’s Joint Agency Coordination Centre, the organisation responsible for leading the search.

Voice370 said a review by experts last month that recommended a new search area of 25,000 square kilometres “is an inescapable duty owed to the flying public in the interest of aviation safety.’’

The Australian government’s Joint Agency Coordination Centre, which has taken the lead in the 160-million-dollar search for the plane, said the hunt has now been officially suspended after finishing a final sweep of the search zone.

“Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has not been located in the 120,000 square-kilometre underwater search area in the Southern Indian Ocean,’’ said a joint communiqué from Malaysia, China and Australia, the three countries involved in the search.

In July, Malaysia, China and Australia had agreed to suspend the search if no “credible new evidence’’ about the plane’s location was discovered.

“Whilst combined scientific studies have continued to refine areas of probability, to date no new information has been discovered to determine the specific location of the aircraft,’’ the statement said.

The aircraft went missing on March 8, 2014 during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, including the crew.

The plane is believed to have crashed in the Indian Ocean.

Last month, a review based on analysis by a team of international experts and investigators said the underwater search zone probably did not contain the missing aircraft and instead identified an additional area of 25,000 square kilometres that could contain the wreckage.

The conclusion had raised the prospect of the search being continued, but the announcement on Tuesday has now quashed that possibility.

The search was the most expensive and exhaustive in aviation history.

“The decision to suspend the underwater search has not been taken lightly nor without sadness,’’ according to the joint statement.

“Today’s announcement is significant for our three countries, but more importantly for the family and friends of those on board the aircraft

“ We remain hopeful that new information will come to light and that at some point in the future the aircraft will be located.’’

 

Source: NAN

Save Aviation Industry Before Another Plane Crash – Ben Bruce tells Senate

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The Senator representing Bayelsa East senatorial district, Ben Murray-Bruce has predicted there will be a plane crash if the Senate does not take immediate action concerning urgent issues in the aviation industry.

The Senator said this at plenary, while speaking on the alleged deteriorating state of the aviation industry in Nigeria.

He moved a motion in favour of lesser taxes, regulations and reduced government interference in airline operations in the country.

He said: “The airport is nothing but a mall and can be self-financed by private sectors better. The Government does not need money to borrow to maintain or build airports.

“Airlines can be profitable if government will stop interfering in the way they are run.

“We are taxing the airlines to death, taxes should not be more than 5 or 10 percentage like in other countries but we charge about 40%.

“Tax Agencies in Nigeria are concerned about generating revenue which this is counterproductive to the airline.

“You cannot regulate the prices of tickets. This way you guarantee they don’t make profits, therefore their services will be reduced.

“No airline will delay you for eight hours unless they do not have finances to buy fuel, pay pilots and other services.”

He then urged the Senate to take the motion seriously, as hindrance to take action will lead to an accident which will lead to loss of so many lives.

“This motion is serious because an accident is about to happen, a plane will crash (and) people will die. I urge my colleagues to take this motion seriously.

“Find a way to work with the airlines not to kill them and find a way to make this motion productive and make it possible for them to be successful so we can live.”

Bodies Of Colombia Plane Crash Victims Flown Home

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The bodies of the 71 victims killed in a plane crash in Colombia that wiped out a Brazilian football team returned home Friday, as mourners prepared a massive funeral.

Along the road to the airport, hundreds of people brandished flowers, white balloons and Colombian flags to pay a final farewell to the victims of Monday’s tragedy.

The remains of the first victim, Paraguayan crew member Gustavo Encina, were handed over to his family early Friday in a coffin draped in his country’s flag.

The other victims — 64 Brazilians, five Bolivians and a Venezuelan — were flown home on a series of flights throughout the day.

“What we want now more than anything else is to go home, to take our friends and brothers home. The wait is the worst,” said Roberto Di Marche, a cousin of football team Chapecoense Real’s late director Nilson Folle Junior.

In the club’s hometown, the southern Brazilian city of Chapeco, more than 100,000 people — about half the city’s population — are expected to attend a memorial service Saturday in honor of the team, whose fairytale season was tragically cut short.

FIFA chief Gianni Infantino canceled a trip to Australia to attend the funeral.

Officials said Brazilian President Michel Temer would likely travel to Chapeco as well.

“The #Chapecoense will remain in our memory for their perseverance and tenacity. I reiterate my deepest solidarity with relatives of the victims,” Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos wrote on Twitter as the last plane departed.

The bodies will be carried during a funeral procession through the city, ending with a ceremony at the team’s stadium.

Read More:

http://guardian.ng/news/bodies-of-colombia-plane-crash-victims-flown-home/

Survivors of plane crash that wiped out football team undergo operations.

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Doctors treated traumatised survivors and an investigation was underway on Wednesday into an air crash that killed 71 people and wiped out Brazil’s Chapecoense soccer team en route to a cup final in Colombia.

Only six people; three players, a journalist and two crew members, survived the disaster on Monday when Chapecoense’s charter plane hit a mountain en route to their Copa Sudamericana showdown in Medellin city.

“Of the players, goalkeeper Jackson Follmann was recovering from the amputation of his right leg,” doctors said.

Defender Helio Neto remained in intensive care with severe trauma to his skull, thorax and lungs, while fellow defender Alan Ruschel had spine surgery.

Soldiers guarded the wreckage overnight after rescuers left, and investigators were to start work at first light.

Bolivia, where the charter company LAMIA was based, and the UK, also sent in experts to help the probe.

Prior to crashing, the BAe 146 had radioed it was having electrical problems, and weather conditions were poor but there was still no official word on the cause.

Locals are accustomed to planes flying overhead at all hours, but many were disturbed by the massive crash noise that interrupted their sleep and evening television.

“It came over my house, but there was no noise, the engine must have gone,’’ Nancy Munoz, 35, who grows strawberries in the area, said.

“I thought it was a bomb, because the FARC rebels used to attack military infrastructure here. Then we heard the rescuers arriving,’’ her husband Fabian said.

By nightfall on Tuesday, rescuers had recovered most of the bodies which were to be repatriated to Brazil and to Bolivia, where the entire plane’s nine-person crew were from.

Brazil declared three days of mourning for the victims.

Chapecoense’s opponents, Atletico Nacional of Medellin, asked for the tournament to be awarded to the Brazilians in honour of the dead.

Fellow top division Brazilian sides also showed solidarity, offering loan players to Chapecoense and urging the national federation to give it a three-year stay against relegation while the club got back on its feet.

Global soccer greats from Lionel Messi to Pele sent condolences.

It was an appalling twist to a fairy-tale story for Chapecoense, which rose since 2009 from Brazil’s fourth to top division.

Chapecoense was about to play the biggest match in its history in the first leg of the regional cup final in Medellin.

However distraught fans gathered around the team’s Conda stadium in Chapeco, a town of about 200,000 people in south Brazil.

76 Dead After Brazilian Football Team’s Plane Crashes In Colombia

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A plane transporting a Brazilian football team crashed in Colombia on Monday night, killing 76 of the 81 people on board.

Six people initially survived the crash, but one later died, according to Colombian authorities.

Among the deceased were members of Chapecoense, a Brazilian soccer team. The club was traveling to Medellin, Colombia to play in the Copa Sudamerica finals against Atletico Nacional, which had been scheduled for Wednesday.

“This is a very, very sad day for football,” said FIFA president Gianni Infantino. “At this difficult time our thoughts are with the victims, their families and friends. FIFA would like to extend its most heartfelt condolences to the fans of Chapecoense, the football community and media organizations concerned in Brazil.”

The football club had fought its way from the lower leagues to the top division in Brazil. Soccer commentators called Chapecoense’s rise to fame a Cinderella story.”

“The pain is terrible. Just as we had made it – I will not say to the top, but to have national prominence – a tragedy like this happens,” said Chapecoense vice-president Ivan Tozzo. “It is very difficult, a very great tragedy.”

The chartered plane took off from Viru Viru International Airport in Bolivia at around 6:18 p.m. local time, CNN reported. The crew onboard declared an emergency somewhere between La Ceja and La Union, according to air traffic controllers.

At the time of publication, the cause of the crash remains unknown, but the mountainous Medellin area, where the plane crashed, had experienced heavy rainfall and thunderstorms that night.

Brazilian team air crash: South American Cup final suspended.

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The South American Cup final was suspended after an airliner carrying a Brazilian team that was to have competed in it crashed in Colombia, the region’s football confederation Conmebol announced Tuesday.

 

The LAMIA airlines plane was carrying 81 people, including members of the Chapecoense Real team of Brazil, which was to have played Colombia’s Atletico Nacional in Wednesday’s first final. Six people were reported to have survived.

 

“All activities of the confederation are suspended until further notice,” Conmebol said.

JUST IN: Colombian police say only 5 people survived plane crash.

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The Latest on the Colombia plane crash involving members of a Brazilian soccer team (all times local):

4:25 a.m.

Colombian police say that five people have survived a plane crash near Medellin’s international airport and the rest of the passengers have been killed.

Gen. Jose Acevedo, head of police in the area surrounding Medellin, provided the information.

A chartered aircraft with 81 people on board, including the Brazilian first division Chapecoense soccer team which was heading to Colombia for a regional tournament final, crashed on its way to Medellin’s international airport.

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3:55 a.m.

The vice president of the Brazilian first division soccer team Chapecoense, whose plane crashed in Colombia, says that the Brazilian city where the team is from is in tears.

Ivan Tozzo said that Chapeco, a city of 200,000 residents in southern Brazil, is already in tears after the crash in Colombia, which occurred before Wednesday’s final of Copa Sudamericana.

Tozzo told cable channel SporTV that “we are very sad, gathered here in the locker room of our stadium. We are still waiting for news. All our board is there, our players. We have nothing concrete on their state.”

He said that “There are a lot of people crying in our city, we could never imagine this. Chapecoense is the biggest reason for joy here. We hope there are many survivors, at least that most of them are OK.”

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2:55 a.m.

Brazilian first division soccer club Chapecoense has issued a brief statement after the plane carrying the team crashed in Colombia.

In a statement on its Facebook page, Chapecoense said “may God accompany our athletes, officials, journalists and other guests traveling with our delegation.”

The team said it would refrain from any further statements until it had fully evaluated the extent of the crash.

A chartered aircraft with 81 people on board, including the Chapecoense team which was heading to Colombia for a regional tournament final, crashed on its way to Medellin’s international airport.

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2:40 a.m.

A local mayor in Colombia says that at least three passengers have been rescued alive from the crash site after a plane carrying a Brazilian soccer team went down near Medellin.

Elkin Ospina, mayor of the La Ceja municipality outside Medellin, told Blu Radio that there may be more survivors but that access to the crash site is complicated.

The chartered aircraft with 81 people on board, including Brazilian first division soccer team Chapecoense which was heading to Colombia for a regional tournament final, crashed on its way to Medellin’s international airport.

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2:30 a.m.

The South American soccer federation has canceled all activities until further notice as a result of Monday’s crash in Colombia of a plane carrying Brazilian first division team Chapecoense.

The CONMEBOL federation said in a statement that its president, Alejandro Dominguez, is on his way to Medellin.

The first of the two-game Copa Sudamericana final was scheduled to be played Wednesday in Medellin between Chapecoense and Atletico Nacional.

The chartered aircraft with 81 people on board, including a Brazilian first division soccer team heading to Colombia for a regional tournament final, crashed on its way to Medellin’s international airport.

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2:10 a.m.

Local media in Colombia are reporting that a male passenger going by the name of Alan has arrived in an ambulance to a hospital near Medellin after the plane crash involving a Brazilian first division soccer team.

Blu Radio said the passenger arrived on a stretcher with an oxygen mask and covered in a blanket. He appeared to be alive.

The chartered plane was carrying 81 people, including the Chapecoense soccer team from southern Brazil. The aircraft had made a stop in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, and was on its way to Medellin’s international airport. The crash site is in a mountainous area outside Medellin.

The team was scheduled to play Wednesday in the first of a two-game Copa Sudamericana final against Atletico Nacional of Medellin.

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12:50 a.m.

Medellin’s mayor says that it is possible there are survivors in the plane crash in Colombia carrying players from a Brazilian soccer team.

Federico Gutierrez told Blu Radio that “it’s a tragedy of huge proportions.” The mayor on his way to the site in a mountainous area outside the city where the chartered aircraft is believed to have crashed shortly before midnight local time.

He said ambulances and rescuers were on their way. It is not clear what caused the crash.

Medellin’s airport confirmed that the aircraft, which departed from Bolivia, was transporting the Chapecoense soccer team from southern Brazil, which was scheduled to play the Copa Sudamericana finals against Atletico Nacional on Wednesday in Medellin.

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12:25 a.m.

Authorities are responding to an emergency after an airplane with 72 people on board has crashed on its way to Medellin’s international airport.

Medellin’s international airport said on its Twitter account that the aircraft had departed from Bolivia.

It’s not clear if there are any survivors. But local media reported that the charter aircraft was carrying members of the soccer team Chapecoense from Brazil, which is scheduled to play Copa Sudamericana finals against Atletico Nacional on Wednesday in Medellin.

Siasia, U-23 Team Escape Plane Crash In Ghana

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Nigerian U-23 team and their coaches including Samson Siasia escaped a plane crash on their way to Gambia on Sunday morning when their plane developed technical faults mid-air forcing the crew to make an emergency landing in Ghana.

 

The team were on their way to Gambia where they are expected to hold a 10-day pre-Africa U-23 Cup of Nations camping. The tournament, an African qualifying championship for the football event of the Rio 2016 Olympics, will hold in Senegal later this month.

 

Report on the website of Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, says though the team had eventually landed at their destination Sunday evening, they experienced near-death situation before they could get to The Gambia.

 

It was gathered that the ARIK Air aircraft conveying the team from Lagos lost a tyre on landing at the Kotoka International Airport, Accra. The airplane that was on ground in Accra was then deployed for the purpose of flying the team to The Gambia, but that also lost an engine on take –off and the pilot had to make a quick return.

 

ARIK, however, provided another aircraft that flew the delegation to The Gambia through Dakar.

 

Meanwhile, Coach Siasia has wielded th?e big stick by dropping Kingsley Sokari, Nzube Anaezemba and Daniel Etor for what he termed indiscipline.

 

Siasia said the players were sent packing after they requested to leave the camp to go for their Club’s (Enyimba) last NPFL game of the season against Sunshine Stars in Lagos, even after he (Siasia) had told all the players they could not leave camp.

 

“I feel bad in taking this decision, but discipline must be maintained for us to achieve success in Senegal. All players in camp were told not to leave camp as the team would be traveling this weekend to The Gambia for pre-Championship training, only for these three players to come and ask to be allowed to go play for their club as they wanted to be part of the victory parade. I had no option but to allow them leave and also in the process, leave them out of the team.”

 

Siasia then wished them well in their pursuit of club glory, while urging them to wish the national team well.

 

Credit: PM News

Scores Dead After Russian-made Plane Crashes In South Sudan

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A Russian-built cargo plane with passengers on board crashed after taking off from the airport in South Sudan’s capital, killing at least 41 people onboard and on the ground, airport officials told Al Jazeera.

A crew member and a child onboard survived, presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny told Reuters news agency.

Shortly after taking off from Juba airport on Wednesday, the plane came down on the banks of the White Nile river, leaving a tail fin and lumps of fuselage strewn in vegetation close to the water.
Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, reporting from Juba, said bad weather was hampering the rescue effort.

“It is raining hard here in Juba, making it difficult to look for more victims. The cargo plane was carrying passengers and it is believed that many of them were not wearing seat belts.”
The plane may have had about 20 people on board, including crew and “probably” 10 to 15 passengers, Ateny said, but added: “We need to confirm how many people were on board.”
In addition, he said an unknown number of people were killed on the ground as the Antonov plane crashed near where some fishermen were working. “We don’t know the number of people that were killed on the ground,” he added.

A police officer, who did not give his name because he was not authorised to speak to the media, told Reuters at the scene that at least 41 people died, but said the number could climb. The Reuters witness said he saw 41 bodies at the site.

Earlier, South Sudanese media had said the cargo plane carried five Russian crew and seven passengers. South Sudan Tribune on Twitter also reported two survivors, one of them a child.
Radmir Gainanov, spokesman for Russia’s diplomatic mission in Uganda, which also oversees South Sudan, said the embassy was in touch with local authorities, including the defence ministry.

“We are clarifying details,” he told AFP news agency from Uganda.

 
Credit: Al Jazeera

Russian plane crashes in Sinai with 224 passengers on board

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A Russian passenger plane carrying 224 people crashed on Saturday in Egypt’s restive Sinai Peninsula, Egyptian officials said.

A “Russian civilian plane… crashed in the central Sinai,” the office of Prime Minister Sharif Ismail said in a statement.

A senior aviation official said the plane was a charter flight operated by a Russian company carrying 217 passengers and seven crew members. Communication with the aircraft was lost, he added.

Sergei Lzvolsky, an official with the Russian aviation agency Rosaviatsia told Interfax news agency that the plane had departed Egypt’s Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh at 5:51 am local time (03:51 GMT).

He said the aircraft did not make contact as expected with air traffic controllers in Cyprus, and “since then the plane has not made contact and has not appeared on radars”.

“Prime Minister (Ismail) is expected to meet the concerned ministries and competent authorities to follow up on the accident of the Russian civilian plane that fell in central Sinai,” Egyptian premier’s office said.

 

Credit : PM News

Aero Plane Crash Averted At Lagos Airport

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An air crash was averted yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon at the Murtala Mohammed Airport,  Lagos as the tyre of a commercial aircraft belonging to AeroContractors blew up just as the plane was taking off.

Enroute Abuja, the aircraft, Aero flight NG127, which had over 100 passengers on board, successfully took off but the pilot had to make an air return to the terminal where it had departed while passengers, who still wished to continue with their journey, were transferred to other flights.

A passenger on board the flight, who simply identified himself as Emma, told Punch correspondent that the incident happened around 4pm and noted that there was panic in the aircraft when the passengers sitting close to the door noticed that the plane had lost a tyre.

He said, “It was as if the pilot didn’t even know that his aircraft had lost a tyre because he took off from the ground. It was after those of us who were close to the door started screaming that he realised what had happened.

“He later made an emergency return mid-air, and this happened around 4pm. In fact, it was when we landed that we noticed that it was a serious tyre burst. But nobody was hurt and we must appreciate the pilot’s maturity and professionalism in handling the situation and landing the plane with a burst tyre.”

The spokesperson for the airline, Mr. Simon Tumba, said the situation was adequately controlled, as no passenger or crew member sustained any form of injury.

 “Aero flight NG127 from Lagos to Abuja on this day (Tuesday) made an air return as a result of a burst tyre, which occurred just as the airplane was lifting off. The pilot did the right thing by not trying to abort the take off.

“He controlled the airplane into the air and following all training procedures, he brought the plane back to a safe landing. At no time during all of this were the passengers’ lives at any risk,” he said.

Miracle Baby & Mother Survive 4 Days In Jungle After Deadly Plane Crash

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CNN reports a baby survived for four days with his mother after their plane crashed in a jungle in Colombia.

The plane was bound for Quibdó from Chocó, for what should have been a short 30-minute flight. It crashed shortly after takeoff around 1 p.m. on Saturday. When the plane crashed, it caught on fire. 19-year-old María Nelly Murillo Moreno (pictured above being taken to the hospital) acted quickly to save her infant son. She was reportedly burned in the fire while she worked to rescue her baby from the plane’s wreckage.

 The plane’s pilot, Carlos Mario Ceballos, died when the plane crashed (his body was found on Sunday). Rescue workers began looking for the mother immediately and were aided by small clues she left to help them find her. She dropped the baby’s birth certificate, a cell phone, and even the pilot’s wallet as part of a trail.

Murillo survived on coconut milk while breastfeeding the baby. Rescuers searching for them in helicopters found them on Wednesday. They were both taken to a hospital in Quibdó where doctors found little injuries to the baby except for a sore bottom because he had run out of diapers. Officials credit their survival to the fact that while the cockpit sustained severe damage, the cabin was left relatively unscathed.

Credit: cosmopolitan

Germanwings Plane Crash: Shouting Match Between Pilots ; One Pilot Locked Out Of The Cockpit

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It has emerged that one of the pilots flying the German Wings Airbus Jet was locked out of the cockpit and could be heard trying to smash the door down.

Four specialists from Interpol and French detectives are trying to work out why one of the pilots locked himself in the cockpit.
The two pilots on board can be heard shouting at each other in German before the one outside tried to smash the door down.
The Captain had 6000 flying hours while the co-pilot joined Germanwings in 2013 and had only 600 flying hours.
Its not known which of the pilots was outside and which was inside.
With this revelations suspicions are rife to whether there was a rogue pilot who deliberately flew the plane into the French Alps and killed everyone and a terrorist theory is also being considered.
However investigations continue by a team of experts from Interpol and French detectives.

German Airline Carrying 150 People Crashes In The French Alps

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A German Airline carrying 150 people (144 passengers and 6 crew members) crashed on Tuesday near a ski resort in the French Alps. All 150 people on board are thought to be dead.

France Transport Minister said there were no survivors.
The Germanwings Airbus 320 departed from the Spanish Coastal city of Barcelona and was travelling to German city of Duesseldorf when it crashed in the Barcelonette area in Southern Eastern France.
The circumstances of the accident are not immediately known.

TB Joshua Speaks On Coming Elections; Warns Of Plane Crash

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On Sunday 15th March 2015, Prophet T.B. Joshua gave a warning to Nigerians over the upcoming elections, further adding that he foresaw an imminent plane crash within Nigeria.

“Pray for Nigeria because I am seeing a plane crash,” Joshua stated in a service televised live via Christian channel Emmanuel TV. “It’s not a good thing to lose personalities again,” he added, specifying that prayer and fasting should be especially offered from 19th to 23rd.

Addressing the contentious elections scheduled to hold on March 28th, TB Joshua said:

“The challenge Nigeria is facing – on the day of voting, when you drop your votes in the ballot box, you will know who is PDP and who is APC. It’s a parable; very delicate. Because everybody plays a game; we deceive ourselves. ‘So this man voted for this party but he’s in that party’.”

Joshua stated that a dark cloud was hanging over the nation. “The cloud is darker. When it is about to rain, you cannot see in front again,” he vividly described.

The cleric further emphasised that vengeance was nigh for the perpetrators of the building collapse that left 116 dead last year September, insisting it was an attack. “There must be vengeance concerning what happened here. Both the slaves and masters must pay the price.”

He stated he was unhappy due to the innocent blood spilled in his church premises and the refusal of those responsible to admit. “God gave me an order that I should continue this work – so I must do it. Nothing can separate me from the work of God but your prophet is not happy. I will be happy when vengeance comes,” he stated, with a markedly stern countenance.

Myles Munroe: Investigation Continues into Plane Crash

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The investigation continues into the plane crash that killed Myles Munroe, an influential and popular religious leader, and eight others in the Bahamas on Sunday.

An official investigation into the crash continued on Monday, with police having said that bad weather is suspected to have been a factor.

“It has left the country reeling,” said Bahamas Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell in a statement. “Reverend Munroe was a giant of a Bahamian.”

His wife and top deputy were also among the casualties, authorities have said.

The plane exploded on impact with a crane at the Grand Bahama Ship Yard and plunged into a junkyard below as it was making its landing approach for Grand Bahama in Freeport at about 5:10 p.m. EST, roughly an hour after takeoff from Nassau, authorities have said.

Others on board the plane included Bahamas Faith Ministries deputy Richard Pinder, youth ministers Lavard and Rudel Parks, and their young son, Johannan.

None aboard the plane survived the crash, officials said.

Among those mourning Munroe, who in 1998 was the youngest recipient of the Order of the British Empire, was Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie.

“It is utterly impossible to measure the magnitude of Dr. Munroe’s loss to the Bahamas and to the world,” Christie said. “He was indisputably one of the most globally recognizable religious figures our nation has ever produced.”

The author of numerous books and a regular traveler to countries in Africa and Latin America, Munroe was also chief executive and chairman of the International Third World Leaders Association.

Credit: Yahoo News

“No Evidence of Technical or Human Error” on MH17

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A report released by the Dutch Safety Board said there was “no evidence of technical or human error” on MH17. Dutch experts say  the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 broke up in mid-air after being hit by “numerous objects” that “pierced the plane at high velocity”.

However this evidence is consistent with the plane being struck by shrapnel from a missile.

All 298 people on board in the MH17, died when the plane came down, amid reports it was shot down by pro-Russian rebels.

Dutch aviation investigators relied on information from the black box flight data recorders, air traffic control, satellite images and photos from the scene to compile the preliminary report.

They said the plane “broke up in the air probably as the result of structural damage caused by a large number of high-velocity objects that penetrated the aircraft from outside.” The cockpit voice recorder revealed no signs of any technical faults or an emergency situation, the experts said. The investigators have not visited the crash site because of fighting in the area but they said photographic evidence of the wreckage suggests the plane split into pieces during “an in-flight break up”.

Maintenance history showed the aircraft was airworthy and had no known technical problems when it took off from Amsterdam, the report added. Experts also added that it was manned by “a qualified and experienced crew”. Radio communications between the pilot and Ukrainian air traffic control confirm that no emergency call was made.

 

UN Helicopter Crash in South Sudan: Apparently Shot Down?

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The UN cargo helicopter that crashed near Bentiu, Capital of the oil rich Unity State has uncertain reports that the Mi-8 chopper was shot down.

Also, an official of UN confirms that the cargo helicopter had been shot down apparently, while a government official in South Sudan points fingers at sympathizers and forces loyal to the rebel commander Peter Gadet as regards to the shooting of the chopper.

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UN has been distributing food to over a million displaced persons who have sought shelter in UN bases around the country; while both the government and the rebel forces are yet to form a power sharing administration.

Three out of four of the crew of the Mi-8 chopper died while on a UN mission in South Sudan.

No Cause For Alarm: No plane crashed in Lagos

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image-300x300There is nothing to be worried about. The rumour going round on social media about a plane crash in Igando area of Lagos has been cleared by The National Emergency Management Agency ( NEMA) . In a telephone discussion with The Nation, Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, the information officer, South West office of NEMA, explained that no aircraft either crashed or crash landed in any area of Lagos.

He further explained that “What we learnt is that on Wednesday night, about 11.20 pm, some persons were transporting scraps of disused aircraft in a truck from the airport vicinity. This triggered anxiety among resident that saw it, people took the photographs and circulated it on social media, thinking it was wreckage of an aircraft that had a crash.  This is the cause of the anxiety. There is no crash in Lagos.”

He clarified that the aircraft was at Mangoro and not Igando as was being circulated in social media. “The evacuation is usually done at night to forestall this kind of public misinformation by mischief makers” He added.