A fisherman, Majaliwa Jackson, who was one of the first to rush to the crash site, says how he tried to rescue the pilots trapped inside the cockpit and how he nearly lost his life in the process.
Majaliwa Jackson has been officially hailed as a hero, and the government has already awarded him a prize of 1 million Tanzanian shillings (Rs. 35,152). He has also been awarded a job in the fire and security forces for his efforts in the rescue efforts.
Speaking from a hospital bed in the lakeside town of Bukoba, shortly before the government’s announcement, he said that he had panicked when he saw the plane coming in from the wrong direction and going into the lake.
He and three others, who were also fishermen, rushed to the crash site and helped open the rear door by cranking it open with the boat’s oar, as well as helping passengers in the rear of the plane escape.
He then moved towards the front of the plane, which was sinking into the water after diving into it nose first, and was able to exchange dialogue with hand signs with one of the pilots stuck inside the cockpit.
Jackson said that the pilot had asked him to break the window glass so that the pilot could escape, he then surfaced to ask the airport security, who rushed to the crash site, if they had appropriate tools with them. They gave him an axe, but he was stopped by an announcer who announced that they were in communications with the pilots inside the cockpit and stopped him from going down and breaking the glass as he said that there was no water leakage inside the cockpit, and he waved goodbye to the pilots before surfacing.
But he said the pilots wanted to be rescued even then.
One of the pilots pointed out to him where the emergency exit of the cockpit was, and he swam back to his boat and got a rope and tied it to the door and tried with a group of boats to open it, but the rope broke and hit him in the face, which rendered him unconscious, and when he woke up, he was already in a hospital bed.
The pilots are among the 19 lives confirmed to have been lost by the officials. The plane was operated by Precision Air, the largest private airline in Tanzania, and crashed near the shore of Lake Victoria.
According to the airline, there were 43 people on the flight, of whom 24 survived the ordeal.
People have been paying respects and walking past the 19 coffins at the funeral services being held at the local football stadium in the lakeside city of Bukoba.
The Prime Minister of Tanzania, Kassim Majaliwa, also paid his respects and said that investigations were going on.
The plane was following its daily routine, taking off from the capital, Dar es Salaam, on Sunday, landing at 8.50 local time at the Mawanza airport, and then crashing on its way to land at Bukoba airport.
READ MORE
