afrol News, 18 May - Cameroonian authorities have declared a day of national mourning for the 114 victims on board the Kenyan Airways passenger plane that crashed in Mbanga-Pongo, few kilometres from the commercial capital, Douala on 4 May this year.

Kenya had earlier mourned the deaths on Monday.

The flight - KQ Boeing 737-800 – was among the airlines’ new fleet of jets it has bought six months back. Its midnight crashed killed all the passengers and crew on board. There were 23 nationalities, including 35 Cameroonians on board the plane at the time of the crash.

Thousands of Cameroonians this morning converge at the crash site to offer prayers for the souls of the victims to rest in eternal bliss. This will be followed by a mass in St. Peter and Paul Cathedral of Douala in the afternoon.

Aviation experts could not still establish the reasons for the crash. But the head of Cameroon National Civil Aviation Authority, Ignatius Juma, said it might have been the fault of the pilot who departed despite being warned of bad weather.

Cameroonians have been blaming their government for not being serious with the crash. They singled out their Transport Minister for not emulating his Kenyan counterpart to visit the crash site.

Since the discovery of the wrecked plane, families of the crash victims are also desperately waiting to receive their dead bodies for burial to no avail. Only few bodies have been found since by rescuers because many are believed to have been buried inside muddy waters.

It is also alleged that Cameroon is yet to have air surveillance radars, which might have hampered the discovery of the jet that crashed shortly after it took off from Douala airport. After an intense search for more than two days, the wrecked jet was discovered in the mangroves.

Mystery still surrounds the whereabouts of the black boxes, although the cock pit was found. However, Kenya and Cameroon are yet to agree whether Canada or France should examine the black boxes.

Kenya Airways is proud of having maintaining unquestionable safety and security records for years. The company’s last air crash occurred in January 2000 when its passenger plane fell inside the sea after it took off in Cote d’Ivoire.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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