NTSB: Southwest jet had pre-existing fatigue
YUMA, Ariz. — Southwest Airlines mechanics were working Sunday to cut out a section of ruptured fuselage from a Boeing 737-300 that was forced to make an emergency landing at a southwestern Arizona military base.
The tear along a riveted “lap joint” shows evidence of extensive cracking that hadn’t been discovered during routine maintenance before Friday’s harrowing flight — and probably wouldn’t have been unless mechanics had specifically looked for it, officials said.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators were overseeing the removal of the top section of the jetliner’s roof around the 5-foot-long tear and will send the structure to Washington, D.C., for analysis.
Meanwhile, Southwest said it had canceled about 300 flights for the second day in a row Sunday as it inspected 79 similar planes in its fleet that it has grounded. The NTSB said it had not been notified of similar problems cropping up during those inspections. Southwest has not said if it has found other problems.
No one was seriously injured Friday as the aircraft carrying 118 people rapidly lost cabin pressure and made a controlled descent from 34,400 feet, landing safely at the airport in Yuma, 150 miles southwest of Phoenix.
But passengers recalled tense minutes after a hole ruptured overhead with a blast and they fumbled frantically for oxygen masks as the plane descended.
Abidjan residents await final battle
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — Residents barricaded themselves inside their homes Sunday, blanketing windows and pushing furniture against doors as this country on Africa’s western coast tensely awaited the final battle between the two men who claim the presidency.
Fighters backing the internationally recognized president, Alassane Ouattara, amassed at a tollbooth on the city’s northern edge, preparing for the final assault. Their leader was declared the winner of last November’s election, but Ouattara has not been able to assume office because outgoing president Laurent Gbagbo is refusing to yield power.
Water has been cut off to much of Abidjan, and on the empty streets, a handful of women with basins could be seen hurriedly crossing the waterfront highway to reach the lagoon. Men ventured out with plastic bags to scoop up water, holding the bags high in the air to signal to soldiers in firing positions that they were not armed.
Only about 20 miles separates the thousands of pro-Ouattara foot soldiers readying for battle from the lagoonside district where the presidential palace and mansion are located.
A resident of the Cocody neighborhood where the mansion is located said around 700 Gbagbo supporters had gathered at the gates of the compound Sunday, after state television, still controlled by the entrenched ruler, called on the population to form a human shield to protect the presidential palace. The resident, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, said the supporters had been armed with AK-47 assault rifles.
Ailing ‘sacred’ turtle captured in Vietnam
HANOI, Vietnam — An ailing giant turtle considered sacred by many Vietnamese was captured in a lake in central Hanoi on Sunday by rescuers who hope to give it medical attention.
Thousands of onlookers cheered at Hoan Kiem Lake as the mammoth creature was pulled in after escaping capture last month.
It took 50 workers two hours to net the turtle and lure into a cage which was then transported by boat to a small island that was recently expanded and equipped with a small pond, known as the “turtle hospital,” said Ha Dinh Duc, who has studied the creature for 20 years and considers himself its caretaker.
He said it will be kept on the island for medical treatment, but it’s unclear how long it will take. Concerns mounted after the turtle was spotted with lesions on its head and shell, prompting the government to form committees and employ hundreds of workers to frantically clean debris and pollution from the lake.
The reptile is estimated to weigh about 440 pounds and is one of the world’s most endangered freshwater turtles. There is one other turtle of the same species, known as Rafeteus swinhoei, in Vietnam and two others in a Chinese zoo.