In a harrowing incident of aviation disaster, a Boeing 737 caught fire and barreled off the runway at Senegal’s chief airport, leaving ten dramatic casualties, including the aircraft’s pilot. The ominous news was divulged by the country’s transport minister on late Thursday.
A frightening frenzy gripped the 85 occupants of the aircraft as the fire sparked a mass evacuation. Survivors recount moments of sweeping panic and tumultuous rescue efforts as they frantically fled from the flaming fuselage towards safety.
The doomed Boeing 737, lifelined by TransAir and operating under the banner of Air Sénégal, was en route to Bamako in Mali from Blaise Diagne International airport – a major touchpoint roughly 31 miles away from the nation’s capital city, Dakar. The moonlit night sky was disrupted by 79 passengers, a pair of pilots, and a four-member cabin crew escaping the ferocious fire.
With smoke and uncertainty filling the air, the exact cause of the frightening blaze and subsequent slide off-track remains veiled. The injured passengers were promptly transported to local hospitals and the unaffected passengers were guided to a restful retreat in a nearby hotel, said the official.
In a chilling testimony, acclaimed Malian musician Cheick Siriman Sissoko vividly shared his brush with death to the media. Stricken by abject terror in the heat of the moment, he recounted seeing the trajectory of his life unravel before his eyes, with bursts of flame and the cacophony of panic forming an unforgettable backdrop.
Young Ibrahim Diallo, ironically just twenty, shared the odds against them, revealing that the plane had faltered on the first attempt to take off. But with the pilot’s reassurance, they steered towards another try, only for smoke to snake out from one of the wings, marking the fiery start to their ill-fated journey.
Boeing respectfully withdrew to the sidelines, requesting the concerned airlines to address the media’s clamoring inquiries. In a statement, the company reiterated their customer’s operational responsibility, while assuring their own continued support system.
Air Sénégal posted a brief statement confirming flight rescheduling between Dakar and Bamako but kept a mum stance on further media entreaties.
The incident, which follows a series of mishaps involving Boeing aircraft that week, casts further shadows on the aviation giant’s current standing. This alarming event, sprouting just days after an onboard tire burst during another Boeing’s touchdown in Turkey, adds to a growing list of gory episodes.
Also, part of this macabre tale is the recent misadventure of January, when a door plug ejected mid-flight from an Alaska Airlines’ Boeing 737, creating an eerie void in the craft. This event prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to issue Boeing a 90-day ultimatum to rectify safety gaps.
Plagued by a history of fatal crashes that claimed 346 lives between 2018 and 2019, Boeing is now under tightened scrutiny. The grievous accidents have spurred a considerable backlash, leading many to demand that the U.S. government resurrect old criminal fraud charges against Boeing.
Throwing more fuel on this smoldering fire, Sam Salehpour, a Boeing whistleblower, claimed at a congressional hearing in April that the airline giant had been compromising manufacturing standards to keep pace.
The incident in Senegal involved a 737-38J model, a relic of the nineties, according to the Aviation Safety Network, a nonprofit watchdog on airline accidents. The aftermath – the charred plane amid a foam-coated field, with a detached engine and a damaged wing – was a stark reminder of aviation’s potential dangers.
