- Title: BENIN: RELATIVES PREPARE TO TAKE VICTIMS OF AIRCRASH HOME TO LEBANON
- Date: 26th December 2003
- Summary: (U7) COTONOU, BENIN (DECEMBER 26, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SMV TWO MEN PUTTING THEIR ARMS AROUND EACH OTHER AND LOOKING AT COFFINS 0.06 2. WIDE OF COFFINS 0.10 3. VARIOUS OF MEN PRAYING IN FRONT OF COFFINS AND STROKING COFFIN 0.21 4. SLV TRUCK WITH DEAD BODIES 0.26 5. SMV COVERED BODIES IN TRUCK 0.31 6. VARIOUS OF MEN LIFTING COVERED BODY FROM TRUCK INTO COFFIN 0.42 7. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (French) ADEL CHOMAN, A SHOPKEEPER FROM LOME (TOGO) SAYING: "Everybody is working to find out how many dead there are, we then have to evacuate them. It is sad but what can we do? These people are our friends, they are from the same village. All our condolences to our friends, to our parents." 1.10 9. VARIOUS OF CROWD NEAR COFFINS (2 SHOTS) 1.26 10. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) MUSTAPHA GHAZZAWI, A DENTIST FROM LEBANON, SAYING: "I'm from Lebanon and my brother leaves here in Benin. We heard about the crash, we feel unhappy but I heard that my brother was still alive. He is slightly injured, he has broken bones but I am happy to see he is still alive. But I feel sad for the other people who died, I feel sad for their parents." 2.08 11. SLV MEN CARRYING AWAY COFFIN 2.18 12. CLOSE OF IDENTIFICATION LABEL ON COFFIN WITH NAME 2.22 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 10th January 2004 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: COTONOU, BENIN
- Country: Benin
- Reuters ID: LVAE976Z55BWQ41H4PLE9V61BJ2M
- Story Text: Relatives of Benin victims speak of their loss.
Survivors grappled with horrifying memories and
grieving relatives prepared to take the bodies of loved
ones home on Friday after an airliner smashed into the sea
off Benin, killing at least 119 people.
More were believed missing. Benin's foreign minister
said there had been 151 passengers and 10 crew on the
Beirut-bound plane which crashed moments after take-off
from the West African nation's main city of Cotonou on
Christmas Day.
Twenty-two people survived the crash and the search for
bodies in choppy sea waters continued late on Friday.
By nightfall, rescuers had managed to pull the plane's
wreckage out of the Atlantic Ocean. The airliner smashed
into a building at the end of the runway as it struggled to
take off before plunging into the shallow coastal waters.
At a nearby hospital, relatives and friends of the dead
climbed one by one into the back of a refrigerated truck to
identify bodies.
Adel Choman, a shopkeeper from Lome, said: "Everybody
is working to find out how many dead there are, we then
have to evacuate them. It is sad but what can we do? These
people are our friends, they are from the same village. All
our condolences to our friends, to our parents."
Mustapha Ghazzawi, a dentist from Lebanon, said: "I'm
from Lebanon and my brother leaves here in Benin. We heard
about the crash, we feel unhappy but I heard that my
brother was still alive. He is slightly injured, he has
broken bones but I am happy to see he is still alive. But I
feel sad for the other people who died, I feel sad for
their parents."
The Boeing 727 was carrying many Lebanese passengers
heading home for the holidays, as well as people from
Benin, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
A Lebanese official in Benin said 119 bodies had been
recovered. By Friday afternoon, 15 of the Lebanese dead had
been identified and the bodies placed in coffins to be
flown home.
But officials said the bodies would not be flown out
until formalities had been completed. Survivors were due to
leave for Lebanon on a government-chartered plane later on
Friday.
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