An ex-managing director of the Gambia Ports
Authority (GPA) was among the 153 passengers that died in Sunday's plane
crash in Lagos, Nigeria.
Family sources confirmed to Daily Observer Monday afternoon that
Ibrahima D.K Janganna, best known as Baye Ebou, who by the time of his
death was serving in the international arena as a ports or maritime
specialist, was on his way from Abuja to Liberia when the McDonnell
Douglas MD-83 ploughed into a printing works and residential buildings
in Lagos before bursting into flames. The airliner, operated by
Lagos-based Company Dana Air, had flown in from the Nigerian capital,
Abuja, when it crashed and burst into flames.
Meanwhile, the Daily Observer visited the bereaved family Monday
afternoon and met scores of sympathisers converged on the compound of
the late Janganna to express their heartfelt condolences to the said
family in this trying moment. "My late brother was a friend, brother and
a father to everyone regardless of age," Muhammeh Janganna, a brother
to the deceased said in a somber-looking mood. Meanwhile, Fatoumata
Janganna, daughter of the deceased who was speaking with a heavy heart
described his father's demise as "unexpected". "He was an amazing person
and a great role model," she added.
About the deceased
The late Ibrahima D.K Janganna, born May 29, 1953 in Brikama, West
Coast Region, was a professional maritime expert who joined the Gambia
Ports Authority sometime in the 1970s and rose through the ranks to the
position of a managing director before leaving in 2002. He left for
Lome, Togo the same year to set up an Eco-Marine International Shipping
Company together with other partners where he served as its director
general. In 2008, Janganna moved to CPCS, a Canadian firm running
projects in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. Until his untimely death
in Sunday's plane crash, the late Janganna was working with this company
that commenced work on a project to reform the Liberian port sector.
The company is an international infrastructure development firm
specialising in private sector participation in transport, power, and
urban sectors. An Ottawa, Ontario-based company, CPCS operates in more
than 80 countries worldwide, particularly in Africa and Southeast Asia.
Baye Ebou as commonly called got his Masters in Maritime from the
World Maritime University in Malmo, Sweden, and he was an executive
member of the Sumpookhaati Sarahulleh Society. He was also a member of
the mosque committee in Kotu, where he resides. He is survived by a wife
and six children.
Similar incident
It would be recalled that two Gambians also died in a plane crash in
the Federal Republic of Nigeria about seven years ago. The late Sheriff
Conteh and Ebrima Njie, who boarded the domestic flight, were both staff
of Trust Bank Limited.
The plane crash
Meanwhile, reports monitored by the Daily Observer indicated that the
pilots reported engine trouble before the Dana Air jetliner crashed
into businesses and crowded apartment buildings near Lagos' Murtala
Muhammed International Airport, the worst air disaster in Nigeria in
nearly two decades. Two years ago, the same Boeing MD-83 had loss of
engine power due to a bird strike, according to an aviation database.
The cause of the crash remains unclear.
The director-general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Harold
Demuren, said the Nigerian registration number of the plane was 5NRAM.
Aviation databases show the plane was exported to Nigeria in early 2009.
It was first delivered in 1990 with the U.S. registration number N944AS
to Alaska Airlines and it suffered two minor incidents while in the
Seattle-based airline's service, according to databases of the Federal
Aviation Administration and the Aviation Safety Network. On Nov. 2,
2002, the plane made an emergency diversion due to smoke and electrical
smell in the cabin, and on Aug. 20, 2006, the plane was evacuated after
landing at Long Beach, California because of smoke in the passenger
cabin.
On April 19, 2010, the plane made an emergency landing at Lagos due
to loss of engine power after a bird strike following takeoff, according
to the Aviation Safety Network. The aircraft appeared to have come down
Sunday on its belly onto the dense neighbourhood that sits along the
typical approach path taken by aircraft heading into Lagos' Murtala
Muhammed International Airport. The plane tore through roofs, sheared a
mango tree and rammed into a woodworking studio, a printing press and at
least two apartment buildings before stopping. The plane was heading to
Lagos from Abuja, the capital, when it went down.