14 missing as Tanzania registered Cessna Caravan crashes off the Comoros

The aircraft was leased to a private Comorian carrier at the time of the crash

A single-engine Cessna 208B Grand Caravan EX registered 5H-MZA in Tanzania and owned by Fly Zanzibar Limited has crashed off Comoros. The fate of the 14 people on board could not be immediately established following Saturday’s accident. The aircraft crashed into the sea as it was about to land.

Captain Mohammed Mazrui, whose firm, Fly Zanzibar Limited, owned the aircraft, told The Citizen that the plane was leased to Comorian company AB Aviation for inter-island flights and was flying from the capital Moroni to the city of Moheli when the accident occurred.

The Cessna 208B Grand Caravan EX left Hahaya Moroni airport on Saturday at 11:55 with 12 Comorian passengers and 2 Tanzanian pilots. At 12:40, in the last contact with Mohéli airport, the crew of flight AY103 announced their intention to turn around to return to Grande Comore, the ceiling being too low, with winds at more than 50 kilometres per hour, and it was raining cats and dogs at Bandar Salam airport.

AB Aviation said the plane disappeared from radar about 2.5 kilometres from its destination, the airstrip of Bander Salam airport in Moheli, with the cause of the accident still unknown.

More than twenty-four hours after the crash at sea, there is little hope of finding survivors.

The first debris from the aircraft and the luggage were fished out of the ocean early Sunday evening by fishermen from Mohéli.

The Cessna Grand Caravan is an American-made transport aircraft. Economical, this model from the Cessna manufacturer is used in many parts of Africa. Fitted with a single engine, its cruising speed is 343 km/h and it has a range of 1,759 kilometres.

Source: The Citizen (Tanzania), FranceInfo Mayotte