Mauritania: Military Plane Crashes Killing Seven  · Global Voices
أحمد جدو

On July 12, 2012, a Mauritanian military plane crashed in Nouakchott airport. The accident took the life of three soldiers (including one officer), as well as two custom officials and two contract security guards, working on the behalf of the Canadian company. According to sources, the pilot sensed some technical malfunction during takeoff and while trying to return to  the airport airstrip, a fire broke out in the cockpit and then he lost control over his aircraft which fell in one of the airport bushes.
After the plane fell, it kept burning in front people residing nearby the place of the accident and this was due to the delay of fire brigades to get on site who had a breakdown in their vehicle.
The plane was heading towards Tasiast  company to transport gold as part of an agreement between the Mauritanian army and the Canadian company. This is not the first accident in Mauritania which has witnessed similar sad events in the recent years.
Photo calling for the mourning (for a civilian regime), shared by Mauritanian activists following the accident
The crash represented a shock and led many Mauritanian political parties and movements to issue condolences to the victims  while asking to open a probe into the causes of the crash. In that respect, the coordination committee of the Mauritanian opposition issued a statement [ar]:
The opposition February 25 Movement issued a statement [ar] calling for an investigation into the accident. Below is a video of the plane on fire, aired by  آخر خبر      (Latest News) channel on YouTube, used with permission:
Netizens also had their say on the accident. Mauritanian blogger Mohammed Al Amine Weld el Fadel commented:
On his part, Ahmed Haymoudane also wrote:
Mohammed Salem tweeted about the big number of aviation accidents:
He adds:
Activist Abdul Fattah Habib commented :
‏@afetah ذكرني بهذا الحديث حادث الطائرة فالبعض يدرس ويعمل وقد يكون جزء من النظام وهو لا يعلم أنه بداخل هذا النظام أسباب وفاته أوأسباب فقد ماله.
Journalist Ahmed Mustapha speaks about the reasons behind the plane crash:
Activist Tah Habib criticized the absence of probe committees in all the previous plane crashes accidents in Mauritania:
Some activists also created a virtual funeral for the victims on Facebook.