– was heading to Montserrat to visit sick daughter
The Berbician who perished when a Fly Montserrat nine-seater plane crashed minutes after takeoff on Sunday afternoon was heading to the volcanic island to visit her hospitalised daughter. At the home of Sandrama Poligadu, 57, of Lot 4 B Williamsburg, Corentyne, the atmosphere was one of grief as relatives and friends gathered to console family members.
The deceased lived there with her husband Gopal, two daughters Krishnaveni and Anjama, a son-in-law, and a grandchild.
This publication was informed that the deceased had opted to visit her 30-year-old daughter Rajama in Salt Spring Montserrat after the latter had fallen ill about three weeks ago. Rajama was hospitalised and Poligadu was heading there to lend support to her son-in-law, Trishan Khan, formerly of Skeldon and to help take care of her three-year-old granddaughter.
Poligadu left Guyana around 05:30h on a flight to Trinidad, where she caught a connecting flight to Antigua, and then another to her final destination.
According to Antiguan officials, the crash occurred at the VC Bird International Airport around 16: 10h on Sunday. The captain Jason Forbes, and the other female passenger also perished.
Poligadu’s husband said he has not slept since hearing the tragic news and is still awaiting more information about the incident.
Investigation
The newly-appointed chief executive officer of the Antigua and Barbuda Airport Authority, Stanley Smith, has pledged an immediate review of the airport’s emergency response procedures on the heels of the deadly crash. The airport rescue personnel and firefighters were among the first responders to the crash site of the Britten-Norman Islander nine-seater twin-engine plane.
Smith, who addressed the press along with director general of the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority (ECCA), Donald McPhail and others, confirmed that three of the four people on the plane died as a result of injuries sustained in the crash.
The airport CEO noted that the incident had indeed resulted in a more than two-hour closure of the airport, which had delayed and diverted flights, but did not result in any cancellations.
Director General McPhail noted that the ECCA would be looking into the matter with the primary objectives of determining what caused the accident and taking corrective measures, “whatever those might be”, to ensure that there is no recurrence of such.
The investigation would look specifically at the weather, at the state of the runway at the time of the accident; the fuel used in the plane, and even the air traffic services operations.
The director general noted that it is still too early for the ECCA to say what exactly went wrong.
Comments are closed.