30 Nov 2016

In the history of aviation, hardly any passenger ever survives a plane crash but there are exceptions whereby usually a small number of survivors are often left with severe physical injuries let alone psychological stress.

Ms Kagiso Sankwasa whom October 11 marked her fifth anniversary since surviving a plane crash in the Okavango Delta in 2011

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BOPA reporter Thandie Keitumetse conversed with the 31-year-old Sankwasa who is now a wife and a mother of two, working for the Department of Road Transport and Safety in Molepolole as an inspector.

She explained that at the time of the incident she was working for the same department in Maun, further explaining that before the crash she used to be a regular flight traveller, boarding both the small and large local aircrafts.

‘It was around 2pm in the afternoon when we boarded the plane with my male colleague, in clear weather, not windy but only sunny as Maun is commonly known,” she explained.

She said they would usually go and inspect tourists’ vehicles at the Okavango swamps and since that time the swamps were full, they had to fly.

Ms Sankwasa narrated that while her colleague seated at the back, she was sitting on a seat behind the pilot’s, which was also next to a door, after the pilot moved her from the co-pilot since he said he wanted to use both yokes to control the plane.

She said when the 13-seater Cessna 208 also known as the Grand Caravan belonging to Moremi Air took off at Xakanaka Camp bound for PomPom, it had a steeply take-off, adding that immediately a siren rang loudly, the thing she explained happened in a split of seconds during take-off.

“The pilot seemed to be trying to stabilise the plane when it went into a nose dive, we shockingly looked at each other as passengers, while the pilot kept on trying to control the plane, and then overheard him communicating with the ground staff at the airstrip though we could not hear what he was saying,” she narrated. She said as it went down crashing into trees, its turbulence feeling like travelling on a gravel road in a vehicle without shock absorbers.

“It immediately hit the ground and we saw mud flying, it then slid on the mud then slammed onto an anthill head-on and started smoking from the engine”, she explained.

She said she saw everyone bleeding, some from the noses as she confusedly fought to unbuckle herself, still in shock failing to locate the safety belt.

 

She said the tourist-lady who sat next to her who was also bleeding, helped her unbuckle her seat belt.  “Although the plane tilted with its wing and wheel sunken on the mud, fortunately the door was within my reach and I stepped out, with the thought of going down a staircase as after a normal landing, I fell on the mud and twisted my foot, my backbone strained,” she said.

She said she was the first one to come out of the plane, then she stood outside and screamed for her colleague, when she heard a bang sound as he kicked broken the window and came out.

She recalled him as the second one to come out, having sustained only an injury on his thigh from the window glass.

The third to come out was a woman-tourist, through the same window my colleague used, and then fourth was an old man-tourist who also used the door, bleeding from his nose which was broken. “I tried to go back and help the woman who helped me unbuckle and the old man who followed me through the door when my colleague pulled me back because the plane already caught flames,” she added.

She said she was really traumatised for failing to rescue her since she helped her. She explained as the plane exploded, the fifth person was thrown out, adding that it exploded three times.

The people from nearby Safari camps were the first to come to the victims’ rescue before air rescue could arrive.

Ms Sankwasa said they were admitted for two days at the hospital after being cleared for internal bleeding.

She said she called her mother only after being released from hospital.  She said her mother could not believe that her daughter had survived a plane crash since she could hear her sounding so well over the phone,.

“She only confirmed by calling my landlord since she could not believe me and she was really shocked but she laughed so hard when she saw me without any visible injury but a small cut on my foot,”she said.

She said she stayed a month refusing to go to work and immediately applied for transfer.

She said she went through counselling for two years and believed she has healed especially after attending the recent Sir Seretse Khama Barracks Air Show, adding that she could not be freaked out by the planes doing their maneuvers in the air.

However, she said she had never flown again and even cancelled going for further studies in the United Kingdom just because of the thought of boarding a flight. Besides, she said nowadays she feels she could fly again but only short flights like from Gaborone to Johannesburg.

Ms Sankwasa said she was only compensated by Labour Department because she was involved in an accident while on duty.

She said the incident had made her renew her relationship with God. ENDS