This is a very sad day for Kenya and Africa as a whole. Let's pray for God's strength at this very trying time.

From CNN:
(CNN) -- Searchers in Cameroon were on Saturday working to track down a Nairobi-bound Kenya Airways flight reported to have gone down in a forested area southwest of the capital Yaounde.

African media reports say Kenya Airways Flight KQ 507 -- which was carrying 115 crew and passengers -- crashed near Yaounde after it took off from the country's major international airport in the city of Douala.

But Titus Naikuni, the company's chief executive officer, refused to describe the incident as a crash. He told reporters that "at the moment you can't make a clear statement until you see the aircraft itself."

Cameroon straddles central and western Africa, and Kenya is in eastern Africa. And both Douala and Nairobi are respectively the most powerful economic cities in Cameroon and Kenya.

Douala, a bustling metropolis on the western Cameroonian coast, at the Gulf of Guinea, has a population of more than 2 million with a seaport and several key industries.

The city handles most of the country's major exports, such as oil, cocoa, and coffee and it is home to the Eko Market, the country's largest market.

The plane took off from Douala bound for Nairobi, Kenya, and was scheduled to arrive in the Kenyan capital about 6 a.m., the airline said. There were reports of thunderstorms in the area around the time of takeoff overnight.

An airline official said the last message from the aircraft was an automatic distress signal received soon after takeoff from Douala airport. The plane was just six months old, the airline said.

People from 25 different countries were on aboard. They included one American, five Britons, one Swiss, one Swede, six Chinese, and 15 Indians. The remainder were Africans, including at least 35 from Cameroon and at least nine from Kenya, according to airline figures.

The Associated Press said Anthony Mitchell, a Nairobi-based AP correspondent, was believed" to be on the flight.

Relatives waiting at Nairobi's airport were distraught as news reports about the missing plane came in. Dozens of family members cried and collapsed in the airport terminal.

One person there said families there had received no information. "I cannot talk now because there is no news," he told AP, declining to give his name. "We have not been given any information."

Cameroon's military sent helicopters from Douala airport to the believed crash site, AP reported.

Celestine Ngoue, general inspector of Cameroon's civil aviation authority, said a search was on for the plane over and in the rough terrain of southern Cameroon.

Security forces are slogging through the densely forested areas, parts of which have some villages and roads, but other parts of which are totally undeveloped. State aircraft are doing flyovers of the equatorial forest and a helicopter was tracking the craft's route.

He also knocked down a news report that the plane crashed near the town of Lolodorf.

Kenyans are sending a delegation to Cameroon, and Naikuni said the United States was helping authorities track the flight location. Naikuni said the location is about 100 kilometers, or more than 60 miles, southwest of Yaounde.

A Kenya Airways flight crashed seven years ago, on January 30, 2000, when a Nairobi-bound flight took off from Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The airline is considered one of the safest in Africa.

As at 13h Kenyan time on Sunday, the plane had not been found according to Govt and KQ officials.

List of Passengers on Flight KQ 507
Source: Sunday Nation

Publication Date: 5/6/2007

The Kenya Airways has released the names of all passengers and nine Kenyan crew members on board the ill-fated KQ 507 flight which went missing in Cameroon on Saturday.



1
..BERNARDNYUY KITATAH MR

2
..TIFUH MARY MRS

3
..TCHOULA DANIEL MR

4
..ABBO MOHAMAN MR

5
..NGUEGNE EPSE KUATE THERESE MRS

6
..NOSOLO SOLOMONDESIRE MR

7
..AMBE/JULIUS NEBA MR

8
..NOHO GILBERT MR

9
..KAZE DAVID MR

10
..MANFOUO SAMUEL MR

11
..NKENGUE ALBERT MR

12
..THEYEM TAKALA D MR

13
..YOUMBI JEAN MICHEL MR

14
..LEUNJEU VIGELLORE MME

15
..EKANDJEMOUSSINGA NELSON MR

16
..KOMETA FUAJAH LOUIS MR

17
..KENGNE MODEST MR

18
..MAFUO EUCHARIA MRS

19
..TSIGUIA JEAN LOUIS MR

20
..ELVIS NGULEFAC NGOASON MR

21
..ENAM ESSOMBO JOSEPH PATRICE MR

22
..LIALE TCHOUDENOU ANGELE MRS

23
..BOUNGANI PATRICE ME

24
..EFFA ENGELBERT MR

25
..OMGBA ZUNG MR

26
..NANA TCHAPDA MICHELINE MRS

27
..FRU ANECORNILIUS MR

28
..AICHA HAMANI PIWELE OUSMANOU MRS

29
..NOWOKAP ROGER WILLIAM

30
..NJAMFA PATRICK MR

31
..POLA HERVE MR

32
..NGAHESSAMA MARIE VERONIQUE MRS

33
..MENGWETUH EPSENGANDOL MRS

34
..TEDJOU KENGNE GUY

35
..MADHUSAUDAN POOJITHA MS

36
..MADHUSUDAN BHAGYA MRS

37
..MADHUSUDAN MR

38
..KEVIN JOSEPH JUDE MR

39
..NIGLI SHIRLY MRS

40
..KOCHERRY GEORGE JOSEPH MR

41
..MANUEL GRACEY MME

42
..MARIA JOSEPH MRS

43
..GAUR AMAN MR

44
..GIREESAN NALAKATH MR

45
..CHAUHAN AMOL MR

46
..MITCHELL ANTHONY MR

47
..STEWART ADAM MR

48
..STEWART SARAH MRS

49
..CLAISSE STUART MR

50
..WRIGHT GORDON MR

51
..GROSSETT MICHAEL MR

52
..VANDERWESTHUIZEN CONRAD MR

53
..UTTON CAMPBELL MR

54
..VANDERWESTHUIZEN CORNELIUS MR

55
..BARNARD DANNY MR

56
..EBERE UGOEZE EMMANUEL MR

57
..UGOCHUKWU JOEL UDEH MR

58
..ONUORAH CHUKWUDI JUDE MR

59
..AMAECHI/NZEAUGUSTINEMR

60
..ABAM/UBIREV

61
..ASIEGBU C MR

62
..ANGO NAYOUSSA MR

63
..DRISSA OUSMANE MR

64
..SAMAILA ABDOULAYE MR

65
..AKONO MONSUY/JOSE MANUEL MR

66
..BUEPOYO BOSEKA MARIA DEL PILAR MRS

67
..DANTHIA ERIC

68
..DOFARA DAVID DR

69
..FATOUMA ALIIBRAHIM MRS

70
..SHAMINE MOUSTAPHASAGOUNF CHD

71
..MUPENDA MALOBA

72
..BOLA MALANDA THEO

73
..WUCHANG GEN MR

74
..LIU SHENG MR

75
..KANDA GERARD MR

76
..SELBY EVEREST MR

77
..SHAH MEERA MRS

78
..JANUARY CHARLES MR

79
..ANDERSSON CLAES MR

80
..WEDER HANS MR

81
..SYLLA DIABEL MR

82
..AGBEVIADE ANNA MS

83
..NGONCHEMFONZIE IBRAHIM MR

84
..OMGBA MARCEL MARIE

85
..OUANDJI PIERRE CHRISTIAN MR

86
..RUBY PAUL MS

87
..SUNDARARAMAN PRAKASH MR

88
..HAROUWA HALIDOU MR

FROM ABIDJAN
89
..GNAMIEN AKAJEAN MR

90
..SERY CYRIAQ

91
..ETIEN KADJO MR

92
..KONE ALASSANE MR

93
..YAO NGORAN AMENAN MRS

94
..SYLLA MARIAM

95
..SHI WEISHA MRS

96
..JIANG XUE DONG MR

97
..BIAN JENG IHONG MR

98
I..NDEER DEEP

99
..DAVID KENNETH JOHN MR

100
..DIARRA SIAKA DR

101
..ABDELKADER MOHAMED DR

102
..KIM HYUNG JUN MR

103
..PATERSON DUNCAN MR

104
..OSWARD LETICIA MRS

105
..HENN ALBERT DR

CREW
1 Wamwea Francis Mbatia Captain
2 Wanyoike Andrew Kiuru First Officer
3 Kiiru Phylis Njeri Flight Purser
4 Njoroge Allan Njenga Flight Attendant
5 Nyakweba Lydia Mocheche Flight Attendant
6 Ong’ondo Elizabeth Achieng Flight Attendant
7 Wakhu Shantaben Niriza Flight Attendant
8 Kadurenge Cyprian Mande Flight Attendant
9 Kisilu William Muia Flight Engineer
NATIONALITIES
34- Cameroon
16- India
9 - Kenya all crew
7 - South Africa
6 - Cote d’Ivoire
6 - China
6 - Nigeria
5 - Britiain
3 - Niger
2 - Central African Republic, Equitorial Guinea, DR Congo, Mauritius
1 - Switzerland, Togo, Sweden, Ghana, The Comoros, Senegal, Egypt, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, US, Mali
SOURCE: Kenya Airways

There are some reports that there are some signs. I hope that they succeed, by the end of the day.

This is really sad, and I grieve with the bereaved.

its indeed a sad time for everyone! my prayer is that they find as many survivors as possible. one of those doctors in the manifest no. 105 is one of the well kown VCT collaborators, and a great researcher at that... its hard to tell as yet but we can only hope for the best as at now..

One of the local daily media (sunday 6/5/07 newspaper) errouniously reported one Mr. Henry Muchiri was in the freight whereas he was nowhere near the plane. Too bad for his own self, kin, friends and kenyans in general.

quote:

One of the local daily media (sunday 6/5/07 newspaper) errouniously reported one Mr. Henry Muchiri was in the freight whereas he was nowhere near the plane. Too bad for his own self, kin, friends and kenyans in general.

that was one unfortunate thing to have happened especially at such a time when everyone who knows someone who works with KQ is on the alert! that was such a horrible mistake! i remember Naikuni was very stern when he said they should wait for the official report and not to jump the gun like they did that one! can u imagine what their relative (who probably believed it was true) felt when they saw the names on the paper?

This is a very sad situation for us all.
I have personally lost a friend and a mentor Mr. Wanyoike Andrew.
Let us all join hands and pray for the departed souls. The irony of man's condition is that the deepest need is to be free of the anxiety of death and annihilation; but it is life itself which awakens it, and so we must shrink from being fully alive.

quote:

This is a very sad situation for us all.
I have personally lost a friend and a mentor Mr. Wanyoike Andrew.
Let us all join hands and pray for the departed souls. The irony of man's condition is that the deepest need is to be free of the anxiety of death and annihilation; but it is life itself which awakens it, and so we must shrink from being fully alive.

Pole sana Wakarima, may the Lord of all comforts be with you, his family friends and even for the rest of the pax's families. rel;atives and friends.
As a mentor i know he must have impacted your life, so keep it alive always.

quote:

Originally posted by Wakarima:
This is a very sad situation for us all.
I have personally lost a friend and a mentor Mr. Wanyoike Andrew.
Let us all join hands and pray for the departed souls. The irony of man's condition is that the deepest need is to be free of the anxiety of death and annihilation; but it is life itself which awakens it, and so we must shrink from being fully alive.

I pray that God give you and the bereaved a little peace and the strength to go through these difficult times.He is our anchor in times of Turmoil.Always remember our dearly beloved Ngimas signature words."Ririkuratha nonginya rithuue"-Once the sun rises,it Must set.

God bless their souls and may they rest in peace.