Jet Loses Fuel Tank Mid-Air

The fuel tank of a jet fighter belonging to the Ghana Armed Forces fell off mid-air while the aircraft was on a training flight.

The incident, which occurred yesterday, spread quickly following reports on some radio stations that another aircraft had crashed. No casualty has been recorded.

The K8 fighter jet was one of the two jets on a training flight.

The empty fuel tank, according to a source in the Ghana Air Force, split into two before landing on the ground around the Sakora suburb of Adenta.

A part of the split fuel tank fell on the rooftop of a three-bedroom house and the other half on a nearby playing ground.

Lahira Inusa, occupant of the house, said she was standing outside the house and 'all I heard was a big bang on my rooftop, with some oily substance splashing on my body'.

She later realised that the metallic object that fell on her rooftop was a part of the tank of an aircraft.

A report was lodged with the Adenta District Police command, whose commander, DSP Stephen Ahiatafu, said a part of the tank fell on a football park 50 metres away from the house where the first part dropped. There was no casualty.

Air Commodore Kwame Mamphey (rtd), Director General of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, said when the pilot discovered that he had lost one of the external tanks, he returned to the Air Force Base in Accra.

Director of the Public Affairs of Ghana Armed Forces, Col Mbawini Atintande, said the jet was on regular training.

Tuesday's incident followed a couple of aircraft incidents recorded in the country.

Last month, a helicopter flying workers of Newmont made an emergency landing at Beposo after one of its engines was said to have malfunctioned.

Another helicopter registered JA9AWD, last week, made an emergency landing on a sandy half-grassed park of St. Michael International School at Menang, a farming community in the Adansi South District.

On June 2, ten people perished when a Nigerian airliner, Allied Airline cargo plane, overshot its runway at the Kotoko International Airport, crashed into a Benz bus and killed all occupants on board.

By Linda Tenyah