Gambia L:

I am forwarding this article which my source culled from the Daily Observer
for me to read. So if this story was already sent to the L, then my
apologies to you all! I have missed the L these past days; so I am at a
loss!

Ebrima Ceesay

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Hello Ebrima,

This story below understandably received little local coverage here in the
Gambia..I have culled it for you from the Sunday Observer, May 28 2000


STRANGE HELICOPTER LANDS IN BRIKAMA  (BY Ben Gomez)

A strange helicopter said to have flown from Liberia, Thursday, landed in
the outskirts of Brikama about half a kilometre away from Gambia College.

Maurice Gomez, the Gambia College students union vice president, said the
two-man crew helicopter attracted curious onlookers when it landed at about
6:30 pm. The two men whom he said identified themselves as
Polish, disclosed that they were only passing through The Gambia to a
destination which he said the two did not reveal.

"We landed here because we have technical problems and also we've run out of
fuel," Mr. Gomez said the crew told them.  The men, he said, further
explained that they had wanted to land in the college football field but
decided to change their decision when they saw people playing there.

Still not convinced by the explanation he said, he alerted the
officer-in-command of Yundum military barracks who dispatched a heavily
armed military team to the scene.

A lance corporal who spoke to our reporter on conditions of anonymity sais,
"I was one of those who spent the night at the scene."  According to him the
two complained of running out of fuel and when that was provided, he said,
"they complained that the battery was flat."

Hence the battery could not be charged, he explained, the two men were asked
to go to the airport but the pilot was said to have reluctant
at leaving the helicopter.  Consequently, the soldier said, "We had to spend
the night on the spot till the following day when they flew to the airport.

Investigations surrounding the strange helicopter are currently in progress,
our source said. The criminal investigation department of the police have
prepared files and are said to be investigating
the issue.

(Culled from the Observer of Sunday)

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