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BY BARTHOLOMEW MADUKWE
LAGOS – Residents of Iju-Ishaga area of Lagos State, where the ill-fated DANA aircraft crashed, yesterday, blamed the deaths of passengers in the crash on poor and delayed rescue operation, noting that the people resorted to using sachets of pure water to put out the fire before the plane exploded.
Speaking with Vanguard, some of the residents who were accused of looting the dead, said the aircraft exploded 20 minutes after it crashed, commending the pilot of the aircraft for being brave with the handling of the aircraft that was wobbling before it crashed.
A resident said: “Had it been that fire fighters were on ground earlier and prepared, all the passengers die would not have died”, adding that the fire fighters came with a leaking pipe, which made it difficult for them to confront the situation.
Another resident, who arrived the scene minutes after the crash and gave his name as Yinka, said “I was with my wife when the aircraft crashlanded on a newly constructed storey building. When the plane was moving around in a random direction initially, we were confused, but when it was getting unusually close to the rooftop of the houses around, we stood up and traced it to where it eventually landed.
“When we got to the scene, we saw the plane on the building but it had not exploded then. The only fire from the aircraft was from the cockpit, which was not much. Only about 10 of us first got to the scene. That little fire was quenchable if there was immediate emergency response from fire fighters. We were even using sachets of pure water to put out the fire before we heard a loud explosion after 20 minutes.”
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