We've even sent boys out on motorcycles along main routes in the region to see whether they can see any trace of the plane crash."-- Jean-Francois Nzenang, senior administrative officer for the region around Kribi, Cameroon
____________________Cameroon's state radio said yesterday it did not have sufficient evidence to confirm its earlier report that a missing Kenya Airways plane with 114 people aboard had been found in southern Cameroon.
"Earlier we broadcast a report that the plane had been found at Awanda, but for the time being we do not have sufficient evidence to confirm, to be completely sure, that the plane has been found," the radio station said.
Teams of rescuers and villagers combed thick tropical forest in southern Cameroon yesterday for the wreckage of a Kenya Airways passenger plane which crashed after takeoff in the central African country, officials said.
The Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which was carrying 114 people from more than 20 countries, went missing on Saturday after leaving Douala airport bound for Nairobi in torrential rain. It was reported to have come down in thick jungle.
Military and civil aviation helicopters scoured a wide zone in the central African country between Kribi on the Atlantic coast and Ngomedzap, south of the capital Yaounde, but the remote location and poor weather did little to help.
"We've even sent boys out on motorcycles along main routes in the region to see whether they can see any trace of the plane crash," Jean-Francois Nzenang, senior administrative officer for the region around Kribi, said by telephone.
But they failed to locate the plane, which initially set off from Ivory Coast, before darkness and heavy rain forced the hunt to be called off for the night.
Kenya Airways Group managing director Titus Naikuni told a press conference in Nairobi yesterday the search was resuming with two extra helicopters.
A signal from the plane's emergency locator beacon that had been picked up on Saturday was lost, he said, raising fears the machine's battery may run out.
"The equipment is only able to transmit information for 48 hours," he said. "The signal is not being received right now."
A Kenyan search team -- led by Transport Minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere -- sent to help the Cameroonian authorities arrived in the country late on Saturday.
Mwakwere was due to meet with the governor responsible for area where the search was concentrated, government spokesman Alfred Mutua told the press conference.
Radar-equipped helicopters, including one sent by the French military from a base in Gabon, were focusing on an area between three or four towns, a French diplomat in Cameroon said.
The US was providing satellite imagery to help in the search, and Mutua said other governments would pitch in.
"We expect to get more assistance from the French, American and British governments," Mutua said, adding it was the responsibility of Cameroon to make the request.
Cameroonian Prime Minister Ephraim Inoni set up a crisis committee to coordinate search and rescue efforts, a communique broadcast on state media said.
Late on Saturday state TV in Cameroon showed hundreds of people gathering somberly outside the Kenya Airways office in Douala -- the nation's largest city -- and at Douala's airport, many clutching radios or telephones to their ears, and some weeping.
Many in the Kenyan capital Nairobi joined special prayer services yesterday for the missing.
The aircraft, which was only six months old, was carrying nine Kenyan crew and 105 passengers including 83 Africans of several nationalities, 15 Indians, six Chinese, five Britons, one Swiss, one Swede and one US citizen.
Most of the passengers were connecting through Nairobi to other destinations outside Kenya.
Kenya Airways said the Douala control tower had received a last message from the aircraft right after takeoff.
Kenya Airways has three 737-800s in its fleet and Naikuni said they had not decided whether to ground the others.
In January 2000 a Kenya Airways Airbus crashed into the sea after taking off from Abidjan airport, killing 169 passengers and crew. This story has been viewed 1428 times.
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AGENCIES, YAOUNDE
Monday, May 07, 2007, Page 1
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