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Matthew’s Ridge plane crash… Passenger recalled pilot saying “Oh Gosh” before landing in bushes
Ulan Benjamin, one of the passengers, who was traveling in an Air Services Limited (ASL) Cessna Caravan aircraft on Monday when it crashed at Matthew’s Ridge, Region One, said that he heard when the pilot said “Oh Gosh” before landing in thick vegetation.
Benjamin, 29, is one out of five persons who remain patients at the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital nursing minor injuries sustained during the crash.
Feriel Ally
Yesterday, the father of two said they had already reached the Matthew’s Ridge airstrip when the pilot circled around it three times and then made a sudden “drop.”
“It’s like the pilot got really, really confused, no one was sitting next to her. After she circled for the last time, I hear something go ‘beep, beep, beep’ and after that, the plane shut off and it went down,” Benjamin, who is nursing injuries to one of his left side ribs, related.
He explained that everything happened so fast, nobody got the opportunity to scream until the plane reached the ground. “Everything happened less than a minute. It was when the plane landed in the bush then everybody started to scream.”
The still shaken Benjamin said he is a gold miner and was returning to the interior to work when the accident occurred. “The people from the airline are paying the hospital bill. They said that whenever I am travelling back into the interior or any of the other persons, we don’t have to pay and they will compensate us.”
The other persons refused to speak of their horrific experience on that fateful day. In a statement sent by ASL, it was explained that a flight chartered by “North West Air Services” and flown by Air Services Ltd (ASL), departed Ogle International Airport at 7:09am for Mathews-Ridge Airstrip. At approximately 8:15am the aircraft (registration 8R-AMS) was involved in an accident within a mile from the landing strip.
The release further stated that ASL immediately dispatched a crew into the mining district to assist with ensuring the injured persons were taken to the Matthew’s Ridge Hospital for medical attention. Twelve persons were air dashed to the city but only five remain hospitalised.
“Although injured, Cpt. Feriel Ally, who has over twenty years of experience ensured that all the passengers disembarked and were accounted for,” according to the statement from ASL.
Investigations into the plane crash are ongoing.
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