Precision Air crash: Cabinet meets tomorrow
A WEEK after the commercial aircraft operated by Precision Air was involved in a tragic accident in Bukoba, Kagera region an emergency cabinet meeting will be held in Dodoma tomorrow to discuss the incident.
Ms Zuhura Yunus, Director of Presidential Communications, spoke of the planned high level government meeting at a press conference on Saturday in Dar es Salaam.
“I would like to express my condolences on behalf of the President Samia Suluhu Hassan to all relatives of the deceased and wish the injured a speedy recovery.” “An emergency Cabinet meeting will be held on November 14, this year to discuss the tragedy,” she said.
Precision Air’s 48-seater 5H-PWF, ATR42-500 – carrying 39 passengers (38 adults and one infant) and four crew members – crash-landed on Lake Victoria at 8.53 am as it was attempting to land at Bukoba airport. It was flying from Dar es Salaam to Bukoba.
A total of 19 people died in the accident, while 24 survived. The survivors were rushed to hospital for treatment.
Speaking in Bukoba after the incident, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa assured Tanzanians that riding in an airplane remained the safest mode of transportation, reiterating the government’s resolve to strengthen the sector through modern equipment and regular training on staff under the ministry responsible.
He said a probe team formed by the government would make an analysis and give a technical report on what happened during the accident. The technical team would comprise experts from different ministers.
French air accident investigators have deployed a team along with technical advisers from Franco-Italian plane maker ATR to assist in the investigation of the Precision Air plane crash.
Under international rules, the locally-led investigation would usually include the participation of authorities in France, where the plane was designed, and Canada, where its Pratt & Whitney engines were developed.
The preliminary probe report will be issued in 14 days, according to the Tanzania Airports Authority. But the final investigation, which involves international experts, including the plane’s manufacturers from France, is likely to take long.
Relatives of the deceased are entitled to compensation of 170 million US Dollars, equivalent to 396bn/-, according to Baghayo Saqware, Commissioner of Insurance at the Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority (Tira), as the crashed airliner had valid insurance.
“First of all, let me express my sincere sympathy to all the victims. Precision Air had a valid insurance cover insured by local and international brokers,” Saqware said. “In short, the sum insured for Precision Air is more than $50 million and the passengers’ insurance claim is $170 million,” he said.
He said the money will be paid as soon as investigations are completed.
“The victims of this plane crash accident will be paid as soon as possible because aircraft accidents are usually not controversial,” he said.
Precision Air was established in 1993. It started as a private charter air Transport Company operating a five-seater Piper Aztec aircraft. Its initial line of business mainly entailed providing connections to tourists visiting the rich natural attractions of Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, in northern Tanzania, Zanzibar Island in the Indian Ocean and other parts of the country from Arusha town as its base.
The most significant turnaround of the airline came in 2003 when Kenya Airways acquired a minority 49 per cent shareholding leaving the majority 51 per cent shares in the control of one local Tanzanian businessman. Since then, Precision Air has literally turned its image into a professionally run modern regional airline.
