Dana Crash- We’re looking for our dad and mom

We’re looking for our dad and mom

–3 wailing kids at Dana plane crash site

...As Fashola takes over their custody

Photo: 

 Sun News Publishing

Several hours after the Dana plane crashed in Iju, Lagos, killing about 185 people, three children aged 11, nine and seven, are still searching for their parents yesterday, wailing. The Dana aircraft crashed into their two-storey building after developing fault midair in the Lagos suburb.  Four houses were destroyed when the plane landed on them.

Amid sobs, Joel, 11, Esther, nine, and seven-year-old Chisom Okwuchukwu, were at the crash site yesterday frantically searching for their parents with nobody taking care of them until Governor Babatunde Fashola intervened.

Joel told our correspondent that their parents sent them on errand, only for them to come back and met their home being razed by the ill fated Dana aircraft, which crashed into it. They have not located their parents since then.

Joel said they slept in the house of a Good Samaritan on the night of the incident, wailing that they had not seen their parents since the incident happened. According to him, their father had asked him and Chisom to look for Esther, who was sent to fetch an electrician from the neighbourhood but had not returned.

Joel said since Esther was not forthcoming, their father asked them to look for her, pointing out that it was while they were coming with Esther that the incident occurred. Confused, the children said they could only remember the name of one of their uncles in Abuja,  who is called Tony Okechukwu.

Meanwhile, Governor Fashola immediately took custody of the children  by taking them to the Lagos State House, Ikeja, pending when a relative of theirs would be found. Fashola said government would take care of the children, saying they were fully protected . A Help Line – 08023414111 – was also opened at the Lagos State Television (LTV), on Lateef Jakande Road, Ikeja, to enable anybody, who knows the children, including their uncle, Tony Okwuchukwu, to contact the state government with sufficient proof for a possible reunion with their parents and relations.

The governor, who spoke with journalists after inspection of the crash site said: “My sympathy and condolences go to all of the victims and their families. It is really hard, finding words to express our pain and grief here but our condolences go out to the families of the bereaved and friends and relations, ordinary people, trying to earn a living end up so tragically and the families of young Nigerians whose lives had been cut short.”

 “It is a very traumatic and painful experience but we condole with the management and staff of Dana Air and we want to commend the first responder, the fire service, LASEMA, NEMA and Red Cross for the support received.”

The governor, who appealed to the media and other people thronging the crash site to allow rescue operations take place, noted that it was not a tourist site. “It is an investigation site and we should keep our distance and allow the first responder to do their work. The difference between whether anybody would have survived or not is a question of how quickly they can get to that person and we should not be in the way of the first responder when they come to this kind of site,” he added.