|
|
 |
|
CNS Story:
|
CANADA-CRASH Aug-3-2005 (500 words) With photo. xxxi
Priest aboard jet that crashed in Canada was 'prepared for death'
By Michael Swan
Catholic News Service
TORONTO (CNS) -- A Tanzanian priest aboard an Air France jet that crashed in Toronto and burst into flames said he was "prepared for death."
"I was actually prepared for death. I said, 'God, we are dying. Save us God.' That was my last prayer," Father Ayub Mwampela told The Catholic Register of Toronto a day after the Aug. 2 crash.
As Father Mwampela was praying, passengers around him began to shout. Panic mushroomed inside the plane as people realized something was very wrong. Passengers had gone from applauding the crew for a difficult landing to the grip of fear.
Father Mwampela said the crew was "wise."
When the plane stopped moving, flight attendants reassured passengers and tried to keep them calm as they opened doors to funnel people out of the plane. The reassurances and instructions from the crew prevented a crush of people jamming the doors, Father Mwampela said.
When Father Mwampela jumped from the hulk of the jet onto the banks of Etobicoke Creek, he and other passengers found themselves near a bridge on Highway 401, Canada's largest, busiest highway. As rain turned every surface slick and slippery, Father Mwampela and other passengers climbed onto the road surface and were picked up by passing commuters.
"There were some good Samaritans who took us to the place where we could be directed where to go," said Father Mwampela.
Loaded onto buses and taken back to the airport, Father Mwampela said he spoke with passengers annoyed with how long it was taking for them to be reunited with people who came to pick them up.
"There were some people who were very angry, actually. I was telling them, 'No, you should cool down,'" Father Mwampela said. "They were angry because people were waiting at the airport and they were delaying them. I said, 'No, what they (members of the flight crew) have done, actually we should praise them, the way they communicated.'"
Father Mwampela, who is studying for a licentiate in social communications at the Gregorian University in Rome, woke the next morning to headlines declaring the passengers' escape a miracle.
"For me it is actually a miracle, and I am grateful to God that he heard and answered my prayers," Father Mwampela said. "When all of us came out of the plane safely ... it was a miracle, I think."
Father Mwampela is in Canada for a two-month internship with The Catholic Register national newspaper. He will return to Rome to complete his degree, then take up duties as director of communications in the Mbeya Diocese in southern Tanzania.
Air France Flight 358 was to be the last plane allowed to land in Toronto just after 4 p.m. Aug. 2 as lightening, rain, hail and wind swept through the city. Winds were blowing about 35 miles per hour, but conditions were good enough for a normal landing, according to officials at Toronto's Pearson International Airport.
END
Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
CNS · 3211 Fourth St NE · Washington DC 20017 · 202.541.3250
|
|
|
|
