On the scene of a disaster

As I boarded the six-seater Cessna aircraft this past Saturday afternoon for a three-hour flight to the worst plane crash in Namibia since 1968, my mother’s words echoed in my mind: “The irony is that you are going to cover a plane crash and you are going in a plane.” Shortly before landing at the Bagani Airstrip at 17:00, our pilot did a quick pass over the wreckage of the Mozambique Airlines plane strewn across Bwabwata National Park and my heart sank. The devastation was obvious and there was a black line, where vegetation had been burnt during the Embraer ERJ-190’s crash. We would only be taken by helicopter to the scene the next day, but were told that the charred remains of the victims were on their way from the crash. We were also told that the Minister of Safety and Security Immanuel Ngatjizeko would be landing at the same airstrip, so we pulled out our cameras and waited. When the bodies arrived, a horrid smell filled the air. The sight was unbearable and officials gasped for air. There were visible burn wounds on protruding hands and heads. It was heart-wrenching to realise that these were loved ones and family members of those who would never see them again. After spending close to three hours at the airstrip, we finally left for the lodge where we had been booked into for the night. It was at the lodge that emotions overwhelmed me and I cried after trying to eat my dinner. I tried evading thoughts of how the victims’ families would have felt at the sight of their loved ones - burnt and limbless. I asked myself whether the victims would receive a dignified burial and whether their families would ever find peace. At about 05:00 on Sunday, we met up with Namibian Police Deputy Inspector-General, James Tjivikua, who flew with us in a helicopter to the plane crash scene less than 30 minutes away. The scene smelt of jet fuel. We captured images We took out our cameras and started taking photographs where the plane had hit the ground. The skid marks was about 500 metres in length and created a clear area, devoid of trees. I captured images of debris, shoes, sandals, a red sunglasses case and an Angolan music album, among others. The sight of a red T-shirt hanging from a partly burnt tree almost knocked me off my feet and I had to restrain myself from crying again. One cannot help but ask yourself how the T-shirt came to be in the tree. I walked through the crash site and saw two dislodged aeroplane seats and imagined which victims had sat in those seats. It was at this stage that I became disoriented, after inhaling too much of the jet fuel fumes. I couldn’t go any further, while my other colleagues walked to the end of the crash site. I was short of breath and my chest was paining. I managed to reach the helicopter and fly back to the airstrip, where we prepared for our flight back to Windhoek. Tjivikua even remarked that Namibian journalists need to be fit and suggested that the police register us for a boot camp. The flight back to Windhoek was also traumatic, due to the turbulence and heavy rain in the northern parts of the country. We reached Eros Airport safely just before 13:00 on Sunday. At the airport, the police and forensic scientists were busy offloading the air crash victims’ bodies from the military plane into mortuary vehicles. I was still nauseous and my appetite was irregular. I know however, that the next time I will be better prepared emotionally and professionally if called on to cover such a disaster again.