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Mozambique plane crash 'intentionally caused' by pilot Pilot 'deliberately crashed' Mozambique plane
(about 7 hours later)
Mozambique's civil aviation institute has said that it believes that the pilot of a plane that crashed last month deliberately caused the accident. The pilot of a Mozambican airliner that crashed in Namibia last month deliberately brought the plane down, aviation experts in Mozambique believe.
Mozambican Airlines's flight TM470 left the capital Maputo bound for Angola on 29 November but crashed over Namibia, killing all 33 people all board. Mozambican Airlines flight TM470 left the capital Maputo bound for Angola on 29 November, but crashed, killing all 33 people all board.
The head of the institute Joao Abreu said preliminary investigations show the pilot made a "deliberate series of manoeuvres" causing the crash. The Civil Aviation Institute said the pilot made a "deliberate series of manoeuvres" causing the crash.
The investigation is continuing. The pilot's motives are unknown, and the investigation is continuing.
Mr Abreu did not say what he thought would have motivated the pilot, Hermino dos Santos Fernandes, to do such a thing. 'Clear intention'
Mr Dos Santos Fernandes ignored warning sounds and pounding on the cockpit door which are audible on recordings recovered from the plane, Mr Abreu said. The plane went down in heavy rain in Namibia's Bwabwata National Park.
The plane was one of the newest in the airline's flight. But the head of the Civil Aviation Institute, Joao Abreu, told a news conference that the pilot, Hermino dos Santos Fernandes, had a "clear intention" to crash.
Mozambican Airlines was banned from airspace in the European Union in 2011, along with all other carriers certified in Mozambique. Dos Santos Fernandes locked himself in the cockpit, and did not allow his co-pilot back inside until moments before the plane hit the ground, Mr Abreu said.
"During these actions you can hear low and high-intensity alarm signals and repeated beating against the door with demands to come into the cockpit," he was quoted as saying by state news agency AIM.
"The reasons which may have given rise to this behaviour are unknown."
Investigations also showed that Dos Santos Fernandes manually changed the aircraft's altitude three times from 11,500 metres (38,000 feet) to 180 metres (592 feet) - below ground level.
He also manually altered the aircraft's speed.
Earlier this week, Namibian investigators said they had detected "no mechanical malfunction" that could have led to the crash, and the plane was one of the newest in the airline's fleet.
The 33 people who died included passengers from Mozambique, Angola, Portugal, Brazil, France and China.
Mozambican Airlines is currently banned from airspace in the European Union, along with all other carriers certified in Mozambique, because of safety concerns.