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Kenya Airways Flight 431 on 30 January 2000 crashed into the sea at 21:09:24 GMT, shortly after takeoff from Abidjan (Port Bouet Airport) to Lagos (Murtala Mohammed International Airport) . There were 179 people on board the Airbus A310 jet aircraft, 169 passengers and 10 crew members. 10 passengers survived the crash. Of the 169 fatalities, 146 bodies were recovered. 103 of those bodies were identified.

The aircraft originated in Nairobi and was meant to stop over in Lagos but flew directly to Abidjan because of weather conditions over Lagos. Harmattan winds coming down from the Sahara to the north had made skies over Lagos unusually hazy on Sunday, and the airport stopped incoming flights. After a three-hour layover, the Kenya Airways Flight 431 took off for Lagos at 21:08 GMT and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Côte d'Ivoire one minute later. Kenya Airways Flight 431 has the highest death toll of any aviation accident involving an Airbus A310.

The Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile, the accident investigation authority of France, wrote the investigation to the incident.^[1]

Nationalities of passengers

Most of the passengers and crew were Nigerians. Two of the crew members on board worked for KLM.^[2]

Crew

Captain Paul Muthee, First Officer Lazaro Muli, Flight Engineer Shem Aluma Metho, Flight Attendant Moses Kome, Flight Attendant Rogony Richard, Flight Attendant John Makio Wandera, Flight Attendant Vincent Mwasi, Flight Attendant Ann Waeni Wakau, Flight Attendant Samira Suleiman, Flight Attendant Victor Thueri, Flight Attendant Janet Mwanjeni

Order of crash

1. An errant stall warning sounds immediately after takeoff.
2. The pilot put the aircraft into a descent.
3. The crew did not apply maximum engine power.
4. The ground proximity warning did not sound because the stall warning took precedence.
5. Overspeed warning sounds.
6. The Captain gives the order to climb.
7. The aircraft collides with the sea.

Rescue

Samuel Ogbada Adje, a survivor, believes that the rescue effort contributed to the number of fatalities. He said that he waited for two hours to be rescued.^[2] Rescuers extracted at least seven of the survivors from the water while one swam almost one mile to the shore.^[3]

See also

• Lists of accidents and incidents on commercial airliners

References

External links

• Site of families of victims. In English and French
• Accident Report - Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile
• Entry in the Major Commercial Airline Disasters Index
• CNN article on rescue efforts
• Information on lost personnel from the World Health Organization
• Information on lost personnel from the United Bible Societies
• Information on lost personnel from Wycliffe Bible Translators
• Pre-crash photos of 5Y-BEN in Airliners.net

← 1999 Aviation accidents and incidents in 2000 2001→ Crossair Flight 498 (January 10) — Kenya Airways Flight 431 (January 30) — Alaska Airlines Flight 261 (January 31) — Southwest Airlines Flight 1455 (March 5) — Air Philippines Flight 541 (April 19) — Philippine Airlines Flight 812 (May 25) — Malév Flight 262 (July 4) — Hapag-Lloyd Flight 3378 (July 12) — Alliance Air Flight 7412 (July 17) — Air France Flight 4590 (July 25) — Gulf Air Flight 072 (August 23) — Australia Beechcraft King Air crash (September 4) — Singapore Airlines Flight 006 (October 31) Bold blue indicates incidents resulting at least 50 deaths (current article is always in bold black) Red indicates the deadliest incident in 2000