On the poignant anniversary, Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden, a remarkable survivor of a harrowing plane crash, vividly recounts the fateful day of Wednesday, August 11, 2004, when disaster struck shortly after takeoff from Lungi International Airport.
The Boeing 737 operated by Air Guinea Express was bound for Banjul, The Gambia, carrying Dr. Blyden and numerous passengers.
At approximately 2:30 PM that afternoon, the tranquil skies turned chaotic as one of the plane’s engines catastrophically detached with a deafening sonic boom. The aircraft immediately spiraled into a terrifying series of gyrations and somersaults, pushing passengers to the brink of despair. By a divine twist of fate, the plane crash-landed right-side-up in a pool of swampy marshland.
As the aircraft plowed into the swamp, its momentum was so astonishingly high that it continued to surge forward, propelling itself deeper into the muddy terrain. The impact was so intense that it unleashed a colossal spray of mud, reaching over a hundred feet into the sky. The plane’s trajectory came to an abrupt halt, narrowly avoiding the looming forest ahead.
The aftermath of the crash left the entire aircraft shrouded in a thick coat of mud, making it barely recognizable.
Dr. Blyden and fellow survivors endured a challenging ordeal, battling injuries sustained during the crash. Photographs captured the extent of the damage several days later, after heavy rains had cleansed the mud-covered wreckage.
Read Dr. Blyden’s post shared on social media below:
“I survived this terrible plane crash exactly 19 years ago on Wednesday 11th August 2004 at around 2:30pm in the afternoon when this Boeing 737 Plane operated by Air Guinea Express crashed – few minutes after taking off from Lungi International Airport.
We were up the air when one of the Engines actually just fell off the plane with a loud supersonic ? BOOM; causing the plane to gyrate and somersault in the air and then, by the grace of God Almighty, it crash landed – right side up – into a pool of thick soaking wet green swamp.
As the plane ✈️ dropped into the swamp, the speed was so high that it continued to travel moving forwards inside the swamp towards the forest. The velocity of impact had created a huge splash of thick mud that shot up over a hundred feet into the air splashing up as the plane moved until it finally stopped before reaching the trees.
The entire plane by then was covered in thick mud. These pictures were taken several days after when the heavy rains had washed the thick mud off the plane. By this time of taking these photos, myself and several passengers had been admitted in hospital.
I had been traveling to Banjul, The Gambia where I had been operating a lucrative commercial communications company that was a premier Consultant to several Gambian state institutions including the Office of the President, the Gambia Telecommunications (GAMTEL) and the Gambia Radio & Television Services (GRTS).
Surviving this crash was a sheer miracle. We give God the Glory. We day ya so first.? We have a purpose to fulfil on Earth.
Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden OOR.
Friday 11th August 2023.”
