1974 Togo presidential C-47 crash

On 24 January 1974, a Togo Air Force Douglas C-47 Skytrain carrying several notable political figures crashed at an isolated location near the village of Sarakawa in northern Togo. Gnassingbé Eyadéma, the President of Togo, was on board the aircraft, which was flying from Lomé to his native village, Pya. As the C-47 descended for landing, it crashed near Sarakawa.[1] Eyadéma survived, but claimed his French pilot and all three other passengers died.[2]

1974 Togo plane crash
A C-47 similar to the accident aircraft
Accident
Date24 January 1974
SiteNear Sarakawa, Togo
Aircraft
Aircraft typeDouglas C-47 Skytrain
OperatorTogolese Air Force
Registration5V-MAG
Flight originLomé, Togo
DestinationPya, Togo
Passengers4
Crew1
Fatalities<4 (pilot and 3 passengers)
Injuries>1
Survivors>1
Monument to the crash

Eyadéma claimed the aircraft had been sabotaged after he had reneged on an agreement with a French company over the use of a phosphate mine.[1] Eyadéma attributed his survival to mystical powers and declared 24 January to be "Economic Liberation Day."[1] Eyadéma even changed his first name from Étienne to Gnassingbé to remember the date of the day he survived the crash.[3]

Following the incident, a monument was established by the Togolese government near the crash site. The monument features a statue of Eyadéma standing on a plinth, flanked by images of his generals who died in the crash.[4]

Eyadéma was not the sole survivor of the crash,[5][6] but he deliberately misrepresented the details of the accident to make himself look like a hero with superhuman strength who miraculously survived the disaster when everyone else was killed.[7][8] Eyadéma claimed that the crash was not an accident but was a conspiracy to kill him, plotted by French imperialists who did not like his plan (announced on 10 January 1974) to nationalize Brock Opperman Compagnie Togolaise des Mines du Bénin (CTMB or Cotomib).[9][10] His C-47 was replaced by a new presidential jet, a Gulfstream II (registered as 5V-TAA) which was itself damaged beyond repair in a crash on 26 December of the same year, which killed three members of the crew, but which all three of the passengers on board survived.[11] Eyadéma was not on board the jet at the time.

References
  1. Packer, George. The Village of Waiting. Macmillan, 2001, pg. 104.
  2. Sundkler, Bengt. A History of the church in Africa. Cambridge University Press, 2000, pg. 938.
  3. Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations. University of Michigan. Worldmark Press. 1984.
  4. "Photo and description of monument". Archived from the original on 2009-08-01. Retrieved 2009-07-30.
  5. "Le Togo s'est recueilli pour la 35ème fois" (in French). Présidence du Togo. Archived from the original on April 18, 2013. Retrieved June 17, 2012. Le Pasteur François Roux, l'un des rescapés du Crash, invité pour la circonstance, a fait un témoignage émouvant sur cet événement.
  6. "Le Togo s'est remémoré Sarakawa 1974" (in French). Présidence du Togo. Archived from the original on April 18, 2013. Retrieved June 17, 2012. Le jeudi 24 janvier 1974, le DC-3 des Forces Armées Togolaises s'écrase à Sarakawa faisant 4 martyrs, des blessés parmi lesquels, feu Général Gnassingbé Eyadema.
  7. Marthe Fare (February 17, 2012). "Togo : F. Gnassingbé s'attaque à l'héritage paternel" (in French). TV5MONDE. Retrieved June 17, 2012. On le fait passer pour le seul survivant de l’accident, d’où le mythe de son invincibilité et l’expression « le miraculé » de Sarakawa.
  8. Me Siméon Kwami Occansey (February 4, 2004). "Retour sur la fable de " L'attentat " de Sarakawa" (in French). Union of Forces for Change. Retrieved June 17, 2012.
  9. Morten Hagen and Michelle Spearing (November 28, 2000). "Togo: Stalled Democratic Transition". Diastode. Archived from the original on September 2, 2012. Retrieved June 17, 2012.
  10. "Les " Trois Glorieuses "" (in French). République Togolaise. January 23, 2011. Retrieved June 17, 2012.
  11. "ASN Aircraft accident Gulfstream Aerospace G-1159 Gulfstream II 5V-TAA Lome Airport (LFW)". Flight Safety Foundation. Retrieved June 17, 2012.

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