Deputy Minister of Transport, Joyce Bawa Mogtari has told Citi News that management of airline company, Starbow has grounded most of its flights to carry out emergency service procedures on them after a near fatal accident on Tuesday.
A Starbow aircraft en-route to Takoradi yesterday developed a fault, and did an emergency landing immediately after takeoff.
Two passengers onboard were injured in the process.
[contextly_sidebar id=”beFivM7fZLgxPJF4KRBE9KGuPN5sb368″]This is the second time a similar incident has happened in two months.
On August 9, 2014, a Kumasi bound Starbow aircraft was forced to land shortly after taking off because it developed a fault mid-air.
Even though management of the airline insists the two incidents are not related, Joyce Bawa Mogtari says the emergency service procedures to be conducted will ensure safety for all passengers.
“Remember that what we want to do is to ensure the safety of our passengers and to assure the general public that everything is being done to ensure that our safety record is maintained,” she said.
She added that, “I know a lot of passions have been inflamed, I am not sure Ghana has an enviable record in terms of statistics, these incidents happen every now and then, but if we were proactive…”
The plane made a flapless landing after a hydraulic fault was detected by the pilot, and injuring the passengers in the process.
The Chief Executive Officer of Starbow, Mr Eric. Antwi confirming the incident to Citi News said “with this hydraulic failure” they couldn’t continue the journey hence making an emergency landing.”
He said because of the high speed ramps at the airport, there were fumes from the tyres but the fire service quickly rushed to the scene to return things to normalcy.
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By: Nana Boakye Yiadom/citifmonline.com/Ghana