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Two top Ghanaian politicians escape death as plane catches fire during takeoff

23 May 2012 01:59 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA. Passengers, including two top Ghanaian politicians, narrowly cheated death Tuesday after their 42-seat private plane canceled takeoff at the last minute when smoke was seen spewing out from the right wing, APA reports.

Ghana’s Majority Leader in Parliament Cletus Avoka and the flag-bearer of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Abu Sakara, were on board the ill-fated flight 9G AAB for Antrak Air Ghana, a private airline. Scheduled to fly to the national capital, Accra from the northern regional capital Tamale.

An eyewitness told Xinhua at the airport that at about 7:15 GMT when the plane was preparing to take off, airline officials detected that smoke was emitting from its right wing.

The pilots were thus compelled to stop the engine and, after some checks, decided to cancel the flight.

One of the passengers who spoke with Xinhua on condition of anonymity said the passengers were gripped with fear when the incident occurred.

He said the passengers started smelling the burning of a plastic material when the plane was about to take off. The flight attendants therefore advised all passengers to exit the flight.

Speaking to journalists, Avoka said he was not so afraid because the flight had not taken off, adding that the situation created some uneasiness among other passengers looking at their facial expressions.

According to the majority Leader, he opted for Antrak flight to enable him to reach Accra on time to attend parliamentary proceedings.

He expressed concern over safety and the poor maintenance culture in the country.

"Although I am not a technical person to diagnose the technical challenge, my opinion is that if we adhere to maintenance standards, many of such incidents could be avoided," he said.

Almost all the passengers on board the Antrak Air later acquired tickets to join the Starbow flight, another local flight.

Personnel of Antrak Air however declined to speak to the media and attempts to get some comments from the airport officials also proved futile, saying their Administrative Officers were indisposed.

Information gathered by Xinhua indicated that the plane in the incident was made in the 1980s, and was added to the Antrak Air fleet in 2008.