WaGanda kwenye Honeymoon wafa katika ajali ya Air France

Ndo kwanza tunasikia kuwa waafrika walikuwemo kwenye hiyo ndege iliyoanguka waiki iliopita kwenye bahari ya Atlantiki ikitokea Brazil kwenda Ufaransa.

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Kutoka The Monitor - Uganda
Ugandan couple feared dead in French plane crash

Tabu Butagira - Kampala

The yet-mystifying fall in Atlantic Ocean of the Air France airbus early on Monday snapped the attention of curious Ugandan news watchers as a casual plane disaster in the distance. But the magnitude of the mid-air horror nodded home yesterday after it emerged that a Ugandan couple returning from a honeymoon in Brazil was aboard the ill-fated flight 447.

A source that preferred that Air France, proprietors of the airline, formally announces the tragic news, however, said family members told close friends that newlyweds; Mr Timothy Ekironyoro and wife, Susan Mofeti perished in the crash. This is the first time news breaks of the presence of Ugandan nationals aboard the Air France carrier flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

By yesterday, the Ugandan embassy in France, that a couple of days ago said no Ugandan was on board the plane, expressed shock over the Ugandan victims.

Mr Stephen Wamono, the administrative attaché at the Ugandan embassy in Paris, but who said he was offering private views, said: “We were just grieving because lives had been lost and saying sorry to our French friends. We did not have any idea that Ugandans were involved.

This information you have provided will help us follow up the matter.”
Daily Monitor could not readily crosscheck the latest report with Air France as the company’s phone line was jammed, apparently by hundreds of callers making varying inquiries about their loved ones.

News of the tragic end of a marital bliss is particularly unsettling in Uganda where only a handful can afford to fly to exclusive resorts abroad for holiday or marriage celebrations. We could not establish if the couple lived overseas.

It was not also immediately clear why Ugandan diplomats in Paris did not in the first place pick interest to inquire about the possibility of Ugandan nationals being aboard the Air France airbus.
The Times newspaper of London reported online that ships had begun trawling the crash area, spread over a 200-mile stretch as different theories emerged on what could have brought down the plane. Some experts suggested pilot error could have forced the plane to stall and break into pieces in violent storms moments after the plane manufacturer rushed out new guideline to operators on handling A330-200 aircrafts in turbulent weather.

Officials said debris, including airliner seats, believed to be that of the Air France airbus were identified from the air, about 800 miles off the Brazilian coast.

http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/news/Ugandan_couple_feared_dead_in_French_plane_crash_85988.shtml