Survivor Of Associated Airline Crash May Lose Ten Toes, Five Fingers

Mrs Quinneth Owolabi, a surviving cabin crew on the ill-fated Associated Airlines plane that crashed in Lagos two weeks ago may have her fingers and toes amputated due to gangrene infection, unless the Federal Government urgently intervenes to fly her abroad for treatment.

The medical team at Nigerian Air Force, NAF, base hospital in Ikeja, where she had been hospitalised since the crash were going to do the amputation yesterday, but her husband resisted, hoping that there would be a better way out.

Mrs. Owolabi survived the crash alongside six others, although two of the survivors later died at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH.

The victim’s husband was said to be making frantic efforts to reach the Federal Government for his wife to be flown abroad for treatment to stave off the amputation, especially as the government was said to be responsible for her treatment thus far.

Confirming the development, National President of Nigerian Airlines Cabin Crew Association, NACCA, Mr. Charles Onuoha, appealed to the Federal Government to urgently come to the rescue of the crash victim.

According to him, Owolabi’s 10 toes and the five fingers of the left hand have been marked for amputation because of the infection that had set in.

“We are calling for referral for overseas treatment, a post-trauma stress assessment and debriefing for Mrs Quinneth Owolabi, and her colleague, Miss Toyin Samson, currently on admission at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, Lagos.

“We are appealing for government’s intervention because that is the only thing that can stop this amputation.”

Onuoha also called on the Federal Government to beam its searchlight on the regulation of the aviation sector to stop the frequent crashes and deaths of cabin crew that had trailed the industry in the last 10 years.

Onuoha also said though Toyin Samson’s case had been stabilised at LASUTH, she needed further medical attention overseas.

Onuoha lamented the attitude of the management of Associated Airlines to the plight of the two cabin crew since the crash, adding that post-trauma stress assessment and debriefing were a necessity for crash and hijack victims.