Crash Scene Attracts Hundreds Of Curious Visitors

Residents around the 37 Military Hospital, the El-Wak Stadium and surrounding areas are still living in a state of fear and panic a day after a cargo plane had rammed into a 207 benz bus, instantly killing all 10 passengers on board. The plane lost control on landing at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) and ended up smashing into the 207 Benz bus. Its crew of four, survived the accident. Some of the residents are so scared that they sometimes raise their heads or run for cover whenever aeroplanes take off at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA). There was uneasy calm at the Burma Camp, near the Kotoka International Airport, where most of the deceased persons were believed to be heading to when the incident occurred. When graphic.com.gh visited the Burma Camp, the 37 Military Hospital area and the El-Wak Stadium sunday, many of the residents were at church services, while others were going about their normal activities. �We are afraid; we don�t know when this incident is going to occur again,� a resident said. �Anytime we hear the noise of a plane fly past, we get scared.� A visit to the house of the driver of the Benz bus at the Burma Camp saw a huge gathering of family members clad in black wailing, with some sitting on the bare floor. According to the family members, the deceased, George Osei, 33, was the breadwinner among the three children of his father�s, Mr Kenneth Asiamah. Osei usually conveyed passengers from the 37 Station to Teshie-Nungua or the Spintex Road and back. He was a member and special driver of the Garrison Church of Pentecost, Burma Camp. With sadness in his voice, Mr Asiamah told graphic.com.gh that he had a phone call from one of his sons, Richard Anane, a Lance Corporal in the Ghana Armed Forces, a few minutes after the accident on Saturday that Osei was the Benz bus driver who had died in the plane crash. Mr Asiamah said he couldn�t sleep throughout the night and so on Sunday morning he went to the 37 Military Hospital morgue where he identified his son�s body. When the scene was revisited on Sunday morning, there was a long queue at the entrance to the condoned area with people struggling to catch a glimpse of the plane. Some among the crowd were taking pictures, while others were just looking at the crashed plane. Police and armed military men were there guarding the area. Meanwhile, the scene of the Saturday plane crash has become a tourist site, attracting hundreds of people. On Sunday, people, some with their children, came from far and near, including places such as Kasoa, Tema, Achimota, Lapaz and Nima, to see the plane. Some people visited the place before going to church, while others went there after church service. To control the crowd that wanted to enter the Hajj Village to look at the smashed plane and the mangled 207 bus, the police made the enthusiastic people form long queues to enter the place in turns. Some of the people around suggested that the security services should charge some gate fees to generate some funds for the state. As if it were a competition, many of the curious �tourists� used their mobile phones and tablets to take shots of the partly damaged aircraft and the mangled 207 bus. Some of them engaged in arguments regarding the best way the pilot could have controlled the aircraft on the runway to avoid skidding onto the main road.