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Antigua plane crash…It was grandmother’s first plane flight
It was her first air trip from Guyana. She was on her way to see her hospitalised, pregnant daughter who lives in Monsterrat, an island in the Caribbean.
Dead Berbician: Sandrama Poligadu
But hours after leaving her Berbice homeland on Sunday, Sandrama Poligadu, 57, a grandmother from Williamsburg, Corentyne, Berbice, was dead, when a nine-seater Montserrat-bound Britten-Norman Islander crashed shortly after takeoff from Antigua. The Fly Monserrat aircraft was heading to Montserrat.
Her son, Kisnasammy Poligadu, speaking from the Williamsburg residence yesterday stated that the family is in shock at this time but nevertheless understands that accidents do happen.
He added, too, that they took his mother to the airport on Sunday. Her son-in-law, Trishan Khan, was awaiting her at the Montserrat Airport for her flight to arrive around 16:00 hrs.
He, however, suspected something had happened after there was an unusually lengthy delay. His worst fears were confirmed when the airport authorities informed him that the plane had crashed during take- off on Runway Seven at the VC Bird International Airport, Antigua.
Khan immediately informed the woman’s relatives in Guyana.
The body is still in Antigua and the family is awaiting its arrival so that preparations can be made for the funeral. They are questioning who is going to pay the cost for transporting the body to Guyana and even the funeral expenses.
Poligadu leaves to mourn her husband Gopaul Sammy Poligadu and her children, Beena, Sheena, Deena and Veeren and grandchildren.
The woman was set to look after her three-year-old granddaughter. Her daughter is said to have been living in Montserrat for the past eight years. There she met her partner and got married.
Poligadu made the connecting flight from Guyana to Trinidad from where she took a plane to Antigua.
Meanwhile, in an update of the shocking crash, the West Indies News Network (WINN) quoted meteorological officials in Antigua as saying that the weather may not have been ideal for flying on Sunday.
Within minutes of the accident, questions were raised about whether the conditions were a contributing factor. But despite the thunderstorms and lightning island-wide, Chief Executive Officer of the Antigua & Barbuda Airport Authority, Stanley Smith, said at a press conference on Sunday night that the weather was good at the time of the incident.
But the Antigua Observer is reporting that the director of the Met Services Keithly Meade has said that an upper level trough was lingering in the area for quite some time, which created unstable conditions on the island.
The Antigua Observer reports that Captain Jason Forbes spent his last hours alive with family in his native Antigua, watching cricket championships and left to fly to Montserrat where he was set to meet his pregnant wife, Florisca. Three people were killed as a result of the crash. Captain Forbes and a female passenger Anya
The remains of the crashed Fly Monsterrat plane.
Duncan died on the scene.
Jamaican national, Anya Duncan, a Maths and Science teacher at the Montserrat Secondary School was heading back to Montserrat where friends were waiting for her at the airport to treat her to a surprise 29th birthday party.
Poligadu of Guyana died in hospital.
British visitor Michael Hudson, the lone survivor of the crash, remained in critical condition at Mount St John Medical Centre Tuesday.
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