By Le Figaro with AFP
Published 23/03/2023 at 22:00, updated 23/03/2023 at 22:00
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Precision Air plane crashed in Lake Victoria, Bukoba, Tanzania on November 8, 2022. SITIDE PROTASE / AFP
Tanzanian authorities said Thursday (March 23) that pilots of a Precision Air plane that crashed into Lake Victoria in November, killing 19 people, ignored automatic warnings about the plane’s dangerous position.
Nineteen people were killed on November 6 when the plane with 43 people on board crashed into the waters of Africa’s largest lake, prompting rescue operations by rescuers, fishermen and local residents to try and recover survivors.
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promise of an investigation
The police had blamed the bad weather for this accident, which is considered the worst in decades in Tanzania. Angered by the accident, President Samia Suluhu Hassan promised an investigation and ordered the country’s emergency response system to be strengthened.
In the second interim report released since the accident, the Department of Transportation estimated on Thursday that the onboard Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) had issued three alerts signaling a rapid descent to the plane. “The alert was not followed by any corrective action by the crew,” the ministry’s accident investigation department assured, before adding that the crew placed the plane in an inverted nose-down position.
The report said the plane was flying in inclement weather and with limited visibility, which “may have contributed to the warning not being acted upon.” Another report, released shortly after the accident, pointed to disruptions in the rescue system, adding that with better organization more passengers could have been rescued.