Crocodile on plane kills 19 passengers

Shared from news.com.au

A STOWAWAY crocodile on a flight escaped from its carrier bag and sparked an onboard stampede that caused the flight to crash, killing 19 passengers and crew.

The croc had been hidden in a passenger's sports bag - allegedly with plans to sell it - but it tore loose and ran amok, sparking panic.

A stampede of terrified passengers caused the small aircraft to lose balance and tip over in mid-air during an internal flight in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The unbalanced load caused the aircraft, on a routine flight from the capital, Kinshasa, to the regional airport at Bandundu, to go into a spin and crash into a house.

A lone survivor from the Let 410 plane told the astonishing tale to investigators.

Ironically the crocodile also survived the crash but was later killed with a machete by rescuers sifting through the wreckage.

 

British pilot Chris Wilson, 39, from Shurdington, near Cheltenham, Glocs was acting as the plane's first officer alongside Belgian pilot Danny Philemotte, 62, who was owner of the plane's operator Filair.

The plane smashed into an empty house just a few hundred metres from its destination.

"According to the inquiry report and the testimony of the only survivor, the crash happened because of a panic sparked by the escape of a crocodile hidden in a sports bag,” news organisation Jeune Afrique reported.

"One of the passengers had hidden the animal, which he planned to sell, in a big sports bag, from which the reptile escaped as the plane began its descent into Bandundu.

"The terrified air hostess hurried towards the cockpit, followed by the passengers."

The plane was then sent off-balance "despite the desperate efforts of the pilot", said the report.

"The crocodile survived the crash before being cut up with a machete."

The plane was a Czech-made Let L-410 Turbolet, one of more than 1,100 produced as short-range transport aircraft and used mainly for passenger services.

Women try to smuggle their dead relative onto a plane

In the 1989 hit Weekend at Bernie's, two friends try to have everyone believe their murdered boss is still alive. Here is a similar story which occurred only yesterday where two women tried to smuggle a body onto a flight! They claim that they did not know he was dead.. so will be interesting to see what the post mortem results are.. read on>

Article Shared : NEWS.com.au - VIDEO

'Weekend at Bernie's' women claim dead man was sleeping when caught at airport.

• Women 'tried to smuggle body onto plane'
• 'Put man in a wheelchair with sunglasses'
• Allegedly said man was 'asleep' when probed

TWO British women who allegedly tried to smuggle a dead relative onto a flight out of England Weekend at Bernie's-style have been arrested.

Kurt Willi Jarant, 91, was in a wheelchair and wearing sunglasses as his widow and her daughter attempted to check him in at Liverpool John Lennon Airport, northwest England.

Airport staff helped the elderly man, who suffered from Alzheimer's, out of a taxi into the wheelchair when he arrived for his flight.

But officials became suspicious and took his pulse, discovering he had passed away.

Police then detained his widow Gitta Jarant, and her daughter, Anke Anusic, at the airport on suspicion of having failed to give notification of death. They have been released on bail.

The pair, who live in Oldham, northwest England, denied he was dead when they brought him from their home to take the flight to Germany.

A police doctor said he had been dead for more than 24 hours, according to Ms Anusic, but she fiercely denied this.

"They would think that for 24 hours we would carry a dead person?" the 41-year-old told the BBC.

"This is ridiculous. He was moving, he was breathing."

The pair said they thought that with his eyes closed the elderly man was asleep.

"He was alive. He was pale but he wasn't dead," Ms Anusic added.

Gitta Jarant, 66, told the broadcaster her husband, whom she called Willi, was "the best man in the world."

"Everyone loved him and everyone was in shock about his death," she said.

"I loved my Willi."

"So many people had seen him in the previous 24 hours. We had checked his temperature and checked his wellbeing.The accusations are wrong," Ms Anusic said. accusations are wrong," Ms Anusic said.