Precision Air survivor recounts final minutes in plane

“I looked out through the window, there was lightning. The weather was very terrible. Until I saw that the plane was getting closer and closer to the lake through the window, I knew that the plane was about to land into the lake…,” says Zhang Lin, one of the 24 survivors of the recently deadly plane crash in Lake Victoria.

Lin was among the 43 people aboard Precision Air that crashed in Lake Victoria while trying to land at Bukoka airport in Kagera on Sunday morning Nov. 6, 2022. Nineteen people were confirmed dead and he recalls that he narrowly survived the tragedy.

In an Interview with Daily News, Lin who was also among the only three foreign nationals on the plane narrates that immediately after the plane took off; he fell asleep due to tiredness since he woke up very early to prepare for his journey.

He had dozed off nearly the entire flight time. He was up at around 8 am just around 30 minutes before the plane crashed into the continent’s greatest lake. He was near his destination, Bukoba. He has been in Bukoba as a Civil Engineer working with the China Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCC).

CCCC is implementing one of the projects in Kagera. He recalls that, “when I looked out from the window I noticed lightning, the weather was bad and the plane was getting closer to the lake.

“I knew that the plane was about to land. From my experience, it was dangerous to land in such bad weather, so I supported the seat with my hands. Got myself ready for the crash,” he said

Mr Lin further narrated that, shortly after, he then heard a loud bang and his head and legs smashed into the front seat.

Lin said sitting on the back seat saved him from being seriously injured.

Still in shock Lin saw the front of the cabin being flooded with water.

“I immediately took out the life jacket under the seat, put it on, unbuckled the seat belt and stood up. The cabin door was still closed, so I shouted to ‘open the cabin door’, the water level increased too fast. I felt I was about to be submerged; the death was knocking,”

From that point of uncertainty, Lin thought of writing a letter to his family but there was no time to do so.

“All of a sudden, I saw light coming through the door and I wasn’t sure who opened the door then I opened the door fully with a few other passengers and I swam out of the plane with the cylinders of my life jacket on to the position of the wing,” he narrated

He recounted that when he looked back, he saw a child being held up in the air near the door, he didn’t think twice and immediately climbed on the wing to save the child.

“I managed to reach the tail of the plane and took the child from someone who also needed to be rescued. Holding this child carefully, I returned to the wing, and soon fishermen came to my rescue. The child and I were taken to an ambulance on the shore. We were taken to the hospital with other rescued passengers,”

Lin however thanked the Tanzania government and the people of Kagera for their efforts in saving his life and that of the other passengers