KLM flight grounded at KIA

A royal Dutch Airline Flight (KLM) KL590, scheduled to leave the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) last Thursday night, could not take off as a result of an accident.

Enquiries at KIA revealed that a light service van belonging to First Catering Service, running at a terrific speed on the tarmac, headed into the waiting plane. As such passengers whose number was not disclosed who had booked for the flight were moved into hotels.

Chronicle’s source said on Friday, the next day, some of the passengers were put on board that day’s flight, leaving behind quite a large number. Anxiety set in on Saturday when the remaining passengers swarmed the departure hall for boarding passes.

The paper’s findings are that normally there are supposed to be a queue for one to obtain a boarding pass, but this was not the case, leading to stampede at the hall on Saturday. The source said the accident occurred at about 8.30 pm. Officials of both KLM and First Catering Services confirmed the accident but were tight-lipped on the issue.

As at Sunday evening, flight engineers flown from outside, probably Schipl, Amsterdam, were busily working on the grounded plane. The actual damage caused could not be immediately ascertained and same could not be told of the service’s van driver.