The Entebe International Airport, Uganda made headlines across the globe 40 years ago when Israeli commandos made a bold raid to free the passengers of a plane hijacked by Palestinians and Germans radicals.
According to atqnews.com, operation Entebbe was carried out by commandos of the Israel Defense Forces at Entebbe Airport in Uganda, rescuing an Air France plane with 248 passengers that had been hijacked by terrorists sympathetic to Palestinian liberation.
The operation took place overnight on July 3-4 1976, and the commandos were able to free all but four of the hostages, with the loss of one Israeli soldier, Yonatan Netanyahu, the brother of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
This time, the Ugandan airport is on the spotlight with the death of an Emirates cabin crew member who allegedly jumped off the plane when it landed at the airport.
The female crew member died after falling out of an emergency door of an aircraft parked at Uganda’s Entebbe airport, a hospital official said.
According to arabianbusiness.com, Francis Sekandi, spokesman for the Kisubi hospital where the female crew member was taken for emergency treatment following the fall on Wednesday, confirmed her death.
“We received her from the Civil Aviation Authority in an ambulance, but she was already dead,” Sekandi said late Thursday.
Uganda’s Civil Aviation Authority said an investigation into the incident has been opened.
“A female member of the crew appeared to have opened the emergency door and unfortunately fell off an Emirates aircraft that had safely landed and parked,” it said in a statement.
One witness, Isaac Seremba, who works at the airport, described the fall from one of the stationary plane’s emergency exits as an apparent “suicide” attempt.
Local newspaper The Daily Monitor also cited unnamed sources as saying the woman appeared to have jumped intentionally from the plane.
Emirates meanwhile said “a member of our cabin crew unfortunately fell from an open door while preparing the aircraft for boarding”.
The airline promised to “extend our full cooperation to the authorities in their investigation,” the Dubai-based carrier said in a statement.
Aledeh.com reports that, the lady who fell off the plane has been allegedly identified to be Elena Iontcheva, a Bulgarian with I.D Number, s124320.
The Bulgarian lady had tried to clear the plane for landing at Entebbe before she fell off through the door and was rushed off the scene of event to a hospital for prompt medical attention.
