Today is 48 years since Sapta Kanya plane crash
"The great wilderness of the mountain."
DC 8 Airline
When the dead came, my friend
Can't escape Sasare
"I don't understand whose fault it is."
Although this song joined the country's song scene four decades ago, it will claim an undiminished popularity even today. Today (4) will be 46 years since the event that gave rise to this song. It is reported to be the most serious air accident in Sri Lanka which happened on December 4, 1974.
We stepped into that beautiful environment belonging to Nottonbridge Police Domain, Ambagamuwa Divisional Secretariat Division, Nuwara Eliya District. Passing the town of Norton Bridge, where Wimalasurendra Hydroelectric Power Station, the first hydroelectric power plant in the country is located, turn left at the junction called Double Katin where the "Binduwa" (0) post is located, and the beautiful Lakshapana Falls will be seen. As we continue on the road, we can see the beautiful and interesting mountain range on the right side. She got the name "Sapta Kanya" because of the seven mountains that were located in a row as sisters. But the real name here is "Uda Lakshapanagala".
The Sapta Kanya mountain range in front of the Lakshapana Hydropower Plant is a beautiful mountain range that is hidden in a blanket of earth for most of the day. Also, the Sapta Kanya mountain range, which was a mountain climber's paradise, became the basis for a memory that shook the world and brought tears to the eyes of the majority of people.
D.C. owned by Martin Air. Flight 08 with 184 passengers and 07 crew members took off from Sri Lanka to Mecca on December 4, 1974 when it crashed into the famous Sapta Kanya mountain range at Sripada site and crashed at 10 minutes past 10 o'clock that night. It is stated in the reports. In the accident, the plane was completely destroyed by fire and all 191 people on board lost their lives.
This aircraft is a McDonnell Douglas DC-8 aircraft registered as PH-MBH completed in 1966. It was powered by Pratt and Whitney engines modified by KLM Airlines. The crew of Martin Air 138: Chief pilot Hendrik Lamm, first pilot Robert Blomsma, flight engineer Johannes Wijnands, navigator Ingrid van de Willet, and flight attendants Henrietta Borgholds, Abdul Hamid Usman, Lilik Hervati, Titia van Dijkum, and Hendrik van Dijkum.
This accident happened when one wing of the plane collided with the fifth hill of the Sapta Kanya mountain range (Sapta Kanya is a mountain range with seven mountains) in front of the Lakshapana waterfall, which is located in an extremely beautiful environment near the Lakshapana hydropower station. When the plane hit the wing and moved forward, the line drawn along the rock a few feet long on the fifth hill of Sapta Kanya mountain range was visible in white color for years, but now it can be seen how it has faded.
After this tragedy that happened on the fourth day of December 1974, the Sapta Kanya mountain range in the Norton Bridge police area of Sri Lanka became famous in the world. A number of Sri Lankan song writers sang the lyrics in the voice of famous singers and made them famous at that time through cassette tapes including the background information of this accident.
A lot of people who witnessed the Martin Air plane crash that killed this beautiful Sapta Kanya mountain peak where a woman is lying down have died today and a few people are still in the surrounding villages. On the 40th anniversary, we went to Kottellena, a village at the foot of the Sapta Kanya mountain where the plane crash took place, to wake up their memory.
Mr. Gamlath Ralalage Punchisinjo, who met there, explained his experience as follows.
Gamlath Ralala's Punchisinjo is a resident of Nortonbridge, Kethetellena. He retired from working in Ceylon Electricity Board and is running a shop.
This is how he described his old experience with us.
I was born in 1941. He was working at the Ceylon Electricity Board, Lakshapana Power Plant. At around 10.15 that night, it shook the ground. I didn't come at night. When I arrived the next morning, I met a group of soldiers. Sapta Kanya went under the stone with them.
When I went there, I saw pieces of people hanging from the trees like in a butcher shop. I can't see it. I went home. He came back after two or three days. Even then, they are looking for the "black box" of the plane. I went to the top of the rock with the army. Last time, a part under a stone was shown. Later, the army people put a rope and took me down there.
It's a piece of the black box. There I slipped and stayed in a tree. I was the one who found the remaining part of the roll in the black box. The planes go from the other side of the rock. This plane has come from the wrong direction. That is why the stone is broken.
Mr. Sumanadasa, a resident of Kottellena, Murutthanna village, located at the foot of Sapta Kanya mountain range, described his experiences to us as follows.
At that time, he was about 21 years old and that night he saw the accident while attending a popular party held at a house in that area. This is his story.
I heard a noise near the house. A burning plane crashed into this mountain. There are reed mats on that mountain. They caught fire. The next day we visited. When leaving, the wreckage of the plane was scattered.
All the people are dead.
#blurt #blurtstory #geekpranee #planecrash #accident #seems #death #house #country