Nenya.net

Rumours in Freetown

Well, there are always rumours flying around Freetown, the most recent relates to the possibility of Lungi airport (main international airport in SL) being down-graded from an international airport due to the lack of fire fighting facilities at the airport. This was emphasised when a recent helicopter crash at Lungi very sadly killed 19 people on board:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6715937.stm

This had been a chartered helicopter for the Togolese officials heading back to Togo after the match against Sierra Leone a couple of weeks ago. There is currently an investigation ongoing which will try to determine the reason behind the crash. This has meant that the government has decided to ground all helicopters flying between Freetown and Lungi (except the UN helicopter which has diplomatic immunity- tho' from the Freetown grapevine, I've gathered this helicopted has crashed more times than Paramount). This all means that the only way to get over to Lungi is by speedboat (they're charging more than the cost of the helicopter flight), by boat (have done this and was fine, but takes ages) or driving all the way round (takes forever and given the condition of the roads is probably at least as dangerous as going on a Paramount helicopter).

Anyway, the general hope is that the airport won't lose it's international status, otherwise things could get pretty complicated in terms of people trying to leave (and arrive in SL), but the panic over this seems to have blown over and the general hope/feel is that it won't be downgraded- at least, not yet. Will keep you posted on any other updates on the Freetown rumour-mill (which is probably more accurate than the local papers)!

posted by Nenya @ 11:58 am