Kenya Airways Flight 431

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Kenya Airways Flight 481 on January 30, 2000 crashed into the sea at 21:09:24 GMT, shortly after takeoff from Abidjan (Port Bouet Airport) to Lagos (Murtala Mohammed International Airport) . There were 179 people on board the Airbus A310 jet aircraft, 169 passengers and 10 crew members. 10 passengers survived the crash. Of the 169 fatalities, 146 bodies were recovered. 103 of those bodies were identified.

The aircraft originated in Nairobi and was meant to stop over in Lagos but flew directly to Abidjan because of weather conditions over Lagos. Harmattan winds coming down from the Sahara to the north had made skies over Lagos unusually hazy on Sunday, and the airport stopped incoming flights. After a three-hour layover, the Kenya Airways Flight 431 took off for Lagos at 21:08 GMT and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the Côte d'Ivoire one minute later.

Nationalities of passengers

Most of the passengers and crew consisted of Nigerians. Two of the crew members on board worked for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

Crew

Captain Paul Muthee, First Officer Lazaro Muli, Flight Attendant Moses Kome, Flight Attendant Rogony Richard, Flight Attendant John Makio Wandera, Flight Attendant Vincent Mwasi, Flight Attendant Ann Waeni Wakau, Flight Attendant Samira Suleiman, Flight Attendant Victor Thueri, Flight Attendant Janet Mwanjeni

Order of crash

1. An errant stall warning sounds immediately after takeoff.
2. The pilot put the aircraft into a descent.
3. The crew did not apply maximum engine power.
4. The ground proximity warning did not sound because the stall warning took precedence.
5. Overspeed warning sounds.
6. The Captain gives the order to climb.
7. The aircraft collides with the sea.

Rescue

Samuel Ogbada Adje, a survivor, believes that the rescue effort contributed to the number of fatalities. He said that he waited for two hours to be rescued.

See also

• Lists of accidents and incidents on commercial airliners

References

External links

• Site of families of victims. In English and French
• Accident Report
• Entry in the Major Commercial Airline Disasters Index
• CNN article on rescue efforts
• Information on lost personnel from the World Health Organization
• Information on lost personnel from the United Bible Societies
• Information on lost personnel from Wycliffe Bible Translators
• Pre-crash photos of 5Y-BEN in Airliners.net

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Last updated on Tuesday March 04, 2008 at 10:09:08 PST (GMT -0800)
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