Ethiopian Cargo Plane Had Flat Tyres

The crashed plane
Preliminary investigations into the Ethiopian cargo plane that crashlanded at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), Accra, indicate that the aircraft had flat tyres.

The Boeing 737-400 plane, registered ET-AQV and being operated by Lomebased ASKY Airlines, which was landing at KIA from Lome, Togo, on Saturday, suffered extensive damage in a runway excursion.

The plane skidded off the runway at about 11:06 am and three crew members on board were rushed to the 37 Military Hospital; all of them reportedly survived.

A statement issued by the management of Ethiopian Airlines yesterday said the ‘aircraft skidded out of the runway with flat tyres upon landing at Kotoka International Airport in Accra on January 10, 2015,’ and disclosed that investigators were still assessing the accident.

Apart from the flat tyres, some experts have attributed the crash of the 18-year old plane to the harsh harmattan weather in Ghana which has been producing poor visibility, leading to the cancellation of flights to the northern part of the country.

Emergency teams made up of the GCAA, Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), Ghana Police Service, National Security, National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), National Ambulance Service and the Ghana Airport Company offered emergency response.

However, Acting Director-General of the GCAA, Abdulai Alhassan, after visiting the crash site, told journalists that ‘Operations at the airport are normal.’

He said the accident was not going to disrupt flight schedules.

Corporate Communications Officer of Ghana Airport Company, Newman Quartey, had later said operations at the airport had ‘normalized’ and added that ‘the normal flights are operating on schedule

BY William Yaw Owusu