Arusha — PATIENTS at Endulen Catholic Hospital in Ngorongoro District who were waiting to be airlifted for further treatment in Arusha City and Kilimanjaro are now stranded following the crashing of the flying doctors plane.

The flying doctors aircraft which was being operated by the Catholic Archdiocese here was the only means of airlifting sick people from remote areas of Ngorongoro, Loliondo and Longido, where vehicles cannot venture, to the Endulen Hospital and also to airlift others from the centre to larger hospitals elsewhere.

The plane which crashed in the wilderness striding Longido District in Arusha last Tuesday evening was taking six patients for referral treatment in Arusha.

Acting Regional Police Commander ASP Japhet Lusingu described the fated missionary plane as a Cessna with Registration Numbers TN-4206 which was flying from Enduleni Hospital in Ngorongoro District to Arusha City via Longido District. It crashed some 120 kilometres from Merigway Village.

Confirmed reports indicate that the plane had flown from Endulen Ward of Ngorongoro between 2pm and 3pm carrying five passengers and landed at Merugway airstrip in Longido to pick up the sixth person. When the aircraft was taking off from Merugway Village a strong wind destabilized it.

The Cessna was being piloted by captains Jaffer Shakir (23) and Patten Patrick (65), who had previously taken the aircraft from Arusha to Ngorongoro in the morning of Tuesday, the 30th of July 2013 before making the return trip later in the evening.

The two pilots were among the seven injured victims of the crash the others being Nalepo Mamasita (38), Anna Laizer (21), Naninkoi Laizer (7), Banson Mukoya (28) and Krizosto Malima (30), all of them are admitted at Arusha Lutheran Medical Centre (ALMC) in the city. Contrary to early speculations, nobody was killed in the accident.