This article is from page 66 of the 2008-08-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 66 JPG
THE anniversary of the air disaster in which the 99 passengers died on KLM flight 607-E off the coast of Galway was remembered last week.
It has been 50 years since the Dutch airliner crashed into the sea killing everyone on board.
On August 14, 1958 the airliner ‘Hugo de Groot’ came down approx- imately 200 km west of Slyne Head.
The air disaster was on the second leg of its trip from Amsterdam to America when disaster struck.
At the time it was the worst plane crash ever to happen in Galway and the fourth worst accident ever in the Atlantic Ocean.
There were no survivors of the transatlantic flight which included six members of the Egyptian fenc- ing team. The plane crashed without even a radio distress call. The flight was last heard 35 minutes after tak- ing off from Shannon. Then silence.
Ten hours later a British pilot saw spots on his radar. A British Royal Air force plane flew over and noticed wreckage. A French trawler and 12 other ships from five nations attempt- ed a rescue which lasted through the night. “It was an errie scene lit by our flares” said Flight It. Keith McDon- ald, who first spotted the wreckage.
Only 34 bodies were recovered and the scenes by the dockside and dur-
ing the biggest funeral procession the city had ever seen were recalled at a memorial service in Bohermore OAM (os) e
Addressing the gathering, Bernard Surrem of KLM quoted from the of- ficial report of the Irish manager of the airline at the time of the disaster.
On August 20, the report records him saying “I must make mention of the wonderful co-operation and as- sistance so freely given by the people of Galway in this whole tragic affair. Their generous effort has made the work of the accident crew so very much easier’, he said.
There was no evidence of any ditching procedure before the deaths of the 45 men, 38 women, 8 children, including a 14-month old baby girl and 8 crew members. Only one of the bodies, that of a young boy, was wearing a lifebellt.
By the time the Galway registered MV Naomh Eanna was notified and reached the wreckage, there were no survivors. John Reck, was a deck steward onboard the Naomh Eanna and remembers a small boat sailing beside them which “attempted to pass nine bodies over to the ship, but currents proved too strong and the bodies had to be abandoned.” Search and rescue efforts were extended to search a cluster of uninhabited is- lands about 50 miles from the crash scene.
Because it was not known how deeply the plane sank, no salvage effort was made. Autopsies were performed on the recovered vic- tims. Only a handful were formally identified and these were buried in a communal grave and some were sub- sequently re-interred in their native countries. Others still lie in Boher- more cemetery, including baby Ber- nadette de Kock Van Leeuwen.
Lack on any physical evidence has meant that no definite cause the crash has ever been found. Theories include the possibility of an explo- sion, electrical failure or pilot error. The most likely explanation given was “over-speeding” of one of the propellers, which may have been caused by oil pollution after a gear became defective.
Aviation experts speculated a propeller might have sheared off, plowed into the cabin and ignited the fuel tanks which had been filled to capacity at Shannon a short time before the crash. This would tie in with speculation that passengers died before plunging into the Atlan- tic. Indications suggest the accident was sudden. KLM station manager Lawrence Melling said “four engines and four radios do not cut out imme- diately.”
KLM subsequently made modifica- tions to reduce further possible dis- asters.