MBANGA-PONGO, Cameroon – Investigators focused Monday on the possibility a Kenya Airways Boeing 737-800 lost power in both engines during a storm just after takeoff and was trying to glide back to the airport when it plunged into a mangrove swamp 12 miles from the runway.
All 114 people on board were killed in the crash, officials said.
After being delayed an hour by storms, the Kenya-bound jetliner sent a distress signal shortly after takeoff from Douala early Saturday, then lost contact 11 to 13 minutes later. It took searchers more than 40 hours to find the wreckage, most of it submerged in murky orange-brown water and concealed by a canopy of trees.
There were no survivors, said Luc Ndjodo, a local official. “We assume that a large part of the plane is under water. I saw only pieces.”
Experts were considering a theory the jet’s two engines flamed out because of the weather and the craft did not have enough altitude to glide back to the airport, said an official close to the airline’s investigation in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.
The plane was only six months old, said Titus Naikuni, chief executive of Kenya Airways, which is considered one of Africa’s safest airlines.
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