John Ighodaro
7 September 2008
column
THE Sankwalla mountains like the letter C almost encircles Busi 2, the village where the Beechcraft 1900D crashed. The mountains did not fully encircle the village otherwise we would not have found our way into the village.
There are six Busi villages in Obanliku Local Government Area of Cross River State named Busi 1 to Busi 6. The Wings Aviation Beechcraft aircraft that disappeared after taking off at the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos on March 15, 2008, about six months ago, was found at the Sankwalla mountains in Busi 2 penultimate Saturday by a search party organized in the local government area.
When the plane was found, it was not exactly as it was when it took off at the Murtala Mohammed Airport about seven months; it was the wreckage that was found alongside the remains of the pilot and two other occupants of the plane.
The plane was heading to Bebi Airstrip, a few kilometers from the crash site on the Sankwalla mountains. When Sunday Vanguard visited Bebi Airstrip, the manager, Mr. Chimere Okoronkwo, said he did not know what the aircraft was doing "over there (the mountains), it was supposed to come here". Okoronkwo said the airstrip was well equipped, saying, "since the crash of that aircraft, planes have landed here thirty times.
In fact since 2005, planes have landed here 500 times. Just name them, Aero Contractors, Overland and of course the plane that brought those who were investigating the crash also landed here. Here we have the non-directional beacon (NDB), we have the instrumental landing system (ILS) and landing lights. However, the ILS is yet to be completed.
It is just ninety percent completed. We are working on it". The Sankwalla mountains flaunt nature's beauty without apologies. At Busi 2 one could see clouds resting on the mountains far away like smoke. On your way to Busi 2, on the left there is an enchanting sight far away in the mountains, The first impression is that you are seeing through a bright hole in the mountain which enables you to see the sky on the other side.
On a closer look, however, you discover it is not a hole. It is a bright waterfall rushing from the side of the mountains as if the mountains are bleeding glittering silvery water. The sight is enchanting. At Busi 2 the villagers have mixed feelings about the crash.
An ex-local government councilor, Hon Justine Ushanu, said he was surprised that the wreckage of the plane was found in his village. According to him, "when we heard in March that a plane coming to Bebi had crashed we had no idea that it crashed here. Even then we saw rescue planes hovering around this area for quite sometime after the crash."
Asked how the plane was found, he said, "The local government council organized a search party soon after the crash. Recently, members of the search party said they had found the wreckage of the plane in the mountains. They said they saw it on (penultimate) Friday. When they came back home on Saturday they told us. To trek up the mountains takes ten hours and ten hours to trek down. They found it on Friday but got down to the village on Saturday.
That same Saturday they went and informed the chairman of the local government and he asked them to bring evidence from the crash site. So, on Sunday, they went back to the mountains and came back on Monday with some items. It was then the chairman knew it was true and he had to inform NEMA. Subsequently they came with a helicopter and flew to the mountains where they too also saw the wreckage.
"I remember that when NEMA came, they asked two of the boys to fly with them to the mountains, the plane could not take more than two boys. They went and they found the wreckage." Ushanu said he was happy that the plane was found in his village, although not happy that people died in the crash. According to him, "this publicity will make government know our condition and find ways to solve our problems here.
I have a feeling that if we had GSM here, the persons in the plane would have been able to call for help, but there is no network here. We don't also have electricity; we don't have pipe-borne water. We need these things. Tell government we need these things."
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