Cameroon starts crash probe

By Emmanuel Braun

MBANGA PONGO, Cameroon (Reuters) - Cameroon opened an inquiry on Tuesday into the crash of a Kenya Airways plane which rescuers took nearly two days to find, as forensic experts began identifying the remains of the 114 victims.

The investigation will try to establish why the Boeing 737-800, which was only six months old, plunged into swampy jungle minutes after taking off in stormy weather from Cameroon's second city of Douala late on Friday.

Questions were being asked about why rescue teams, including radar-equipped helicopters, spent nearly two days scouring forests 150 km (94 miles) away before the crash site was located on Sunday barely 20 km (12 miles) from Douala airport.

Cameroonian officials have said initial search efforts were based on satellite tracking data from Europe which seemed to put the plane's last position over the forests of south Cameroon.

"If the plane was detected 150 km from Douala, and then was subsequently found not far from the airport, there is at least a question there," Celeste Mandeng of Cameroon's Civil Protection Service told Reuters.

He said the investigation would probe all possibilities, including the hypothesis that the pilot may have turned back and tried to reland at Douala after running into difficulties.

Cameroon Prime Minister Ephraim Inoni ordered Transport Minister Dakole Daissala to lead a formal government inquiry into the crash, which once again threw the spotlight on air safety in Africa, the continent with the world's worst record.

On the edge of waterlogged jungle surrounding the crash site south of Douala, Red Cross officials and forensic experts strove to collect the remains of the nine crew and 105 passengers -- of more than 20 nationalities -- who were killed.