Starbow apologises to passengers for Saturday's plane crash

Management of Domestic airline Starbow has issued an apology in light of Saturday’s incident involving one of the company’s aircraft.

In a press statement issued by the company, Starbow confirmed that 5 members out of the 68 passengers (63 guests and 5 crew members) aboard the aircraft were treated with minor injuries at the Airport Clinic.

Chief Executive Officer of Starbow, Eric Antwi assured the public of the company’s unreserved commitment and noted that his outfit was working with the Ghana Aviation Authority to ascertain the cause of the crash.

‘‘All of us at Starbow at this time remain dedicated to our guests, our crew and their families. Their safety and wellbeing is at the heart of everything we do, and we will cooperate fully with the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, and other agencies, to determine the cause of this incident. We hope to be able to provide further information in due course’’, he stated.

The statement further revealed that operations of the company has been suspended pending investigations.

Bacground

On Saturday a Starbow Airline aircraft on a flight from Accra to Kumasi overshot the runaway at Kotoka International Airport as it attempted takeoff on Saturday.

The plane, with 63 passengers and five crew members, ended up in the fencing around the airport, leaving dozens of passengers traumatised.

Deputy Energy Minister, William Owuraku Aidoo, was one of the passengers aboard. He suggested that bad weather could have contributed to the failure of the pilot to get the aircraft off the ground. He confirmed that most of the passengers were traumatised.

"It went off the tarmac and ended somewhere quite far," one of the traumatised passengers told GhanaWeb. "I thought I was going to die."

Shortly after the incident, a fire service truck went to the scene and was the first to help passengers off the aircraft.



Apart from the trauma, most passengers escaped unhurt.

Member of Parliament for Asawase, Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak, who was waiting at the airport for a different flight called on the aviation regulators to do more to sanitise the domestic air travel industry.



The incident marked the third Starbow crash in a little over three years.

In 2015 passengers on board a Tamale-bound aircraft of Starbow airlines had the scare of their lives when the aircraft, BAE with registration 9GSBB, crash landed in Tamale although no injuries were recorded.

In 2014, two people were injured after a Takoradi bound Starbow aircraft made an emergency landing.

Below is the full statement from Starbow Airline

Starbow S9 104 Incident at Accra, Kotoka International Airport

Everyone at Starbow wishes to express their sincere regret for the distress experienced by our guests on Flight S9 104 on 25 November 2017 at 12:45, local time.

The service, operated by ATR72-500 (registration 9G-SBF), was a scheduled flight from Accra to Kumasi.



All sixty-three (63) guests and five (5) crew disembarked, as normal, though five guests were treated for minor injuries at the Airport Clinic. The Ghana Civil Aviation Authority has begun an investigation into the incident.

Eric Antwi, Chief Executive Officer, said: ‘All of us at Starbow at this time remain dedicated to our guests, our crew and their families. Their safety and wellbeing is at the heart of everything we do, and we will cooperate fully with the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, and other agencies, to determine the cause of this incident. We hope to be able to provide further information in due course’.

Starbow has suspended its operations with immediate effect and guests with future reservations are invited to contact the airline at 024 500 0000 to make alternative travel arrangements.