SHARJAH, 12 February 2004 — United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Zayed ibn Sultan Al-Nahyan yesterday abolished a law that requires foreign workers to briefly exit the country to avoid running afoul of visa regulations, a day after Kish Air’s popular “visa change” flight crashed into a residential neighborhood, killing 43 of the 46 people aboard.
Hours after the crash, Dubai, one of the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates, announced it was scrapping the visa-change regulations. Sheikh Zayed abolished the law in all emirates yesterday.
An official statement said workers who arrive on visit visas but later find jobs no longer have to exit and re-enter on new work visas. The statement did not directly mention Tuesday’s crash of a Kish Air Fokker 50.
Also yesterday, Iran’s civil aviation chief said the plane’s so-called “black boxes” would be independently analyzed. Investigators kept up their work at the crash scene, poking through charred debris.
“The flight voice and data recorders are being sent for independent analysis,” Hassan Haj Ali Fard, head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, told reporters. “To maintain objectivity, the analysis will not be made by the aircraft manufacturer or the operating airline, but by a third, independent party.”
Fard, who arrived in Sharjah hours after the crash, would not say where the analysis would be done. He said findings were expected in about a week.
Kish Air officials in Tehran have refused to comment on the crash.
The plane was 11 years old — far newer than most in Iran’s aging fleet — and was acquired by Kish Air in 2002. There has been no word on the cause of the crash.
About a dozen investigators combed through wreckage yesterday that fell between two upscale residential neighborhoods. The plane crashed and burst into flames just 100 meters from the nearest homes.
By mid-afternoon, the debris was removed. A crane loaded the plane’s blue tail, its only recognizable part in the charred rubble, on a truck that carried it away. A bulldozer cleaned up the rest of the rubble.
The flight was returning from the Iranian island of Kish, a favorite destination of foreign workers who exit the Emirates and return to meet visa requirements.
The airline advertises cheap “visa change” excursions and its daily flights are packed with foreigners — particularly Indians, Pakistanis and Filipinos who make up the bulk of the Emirates’ work force. A package deal including a round-trip flight plus one night in a hotel costs 480 dirhams ($130) — the cheapest deal for any destination outside the Emirates. The next cheapest would be to travel to Oman, costing 820 dirhams ($224), but Oman requires an advance visa. Kish does not.
According to a passenger list released by the airline, 25 of the 40 passengers were traveling on the visa change package deals. Another Kish Air Fokker 50 landed in Dubai yesterday, carrying workers.
“I was so worried that I had second thoughts before boarding the flight today,” said Mukesh Bhatia, a 22-year-old Indian who was returning with a work visa for an accounting job. “What could I do. I had no choice but to take this flight. The company gave me this ticket,” Bhatia shrugged.
Tuesday’s flight had landing clearance and was on its final approach, when it suddenly banked left and hit the ground, said Fard, the Iranian civil aviation official.
The pilot had not reported any trouble and was just 3 km from Sharjah airport when it crashed at 11:40 a.m.
An airline passenger list indicated most aboard were Iranians and Indians, though others from the Philippines, Bangladesh, Algeria, Egypt, Nepal, Syria, Nigeria and Cameroon also were identified.
Many Iranians traveling to the Emirates first fly from Tehran to Kish, then make the 100-km hop across the Gulf on Kish Air — a significantly cheaper route than flying directly.
Three male survivors were being treated at Sharjah’s Al-Qasimi Hospital.
“Their condition is dangerous but stable,” said hospital director Zainal Abdul Kareem Al-Nimr. Asked if any of them were conscious, he said: “None of them is talking.”
Hospital officials and Filipino diplomats who visited the survivors said one was from the Philippines, the other was an Egyptian and the third was an Iranian.
Philippines Embassy Labor Attache Vincent Cabe identified the Filipino survivor as George Cruz, and said three Filipinos were among the dead.
The near miss shook residents.
Amina Khalifa, a 60-year-old homemaker, said there was pandemonium in the neighborhood when the plane came down.
“We heard a loud crash, and I knew it was a plane crash because planes are always flying overhead,” she said, as she stood near the site wearing a black veil and filming investigators sifting through the wreckage.
“Everyone was screaming, ‘Plane crash! Plane crash!’” she said. “One is shaken just hearing the screech of car brakes. Can you imagine what a plane crash sounds like?”
