Mozambican Airlines captain had 'clear intention' to crash plane
Probe reveals 33 died after pilot locked himself in cockpit and ignored alarm signals
A Mozambique Airlines captain had a "clear intention" to crash an aircraft that went down in Namibia killing 33 at the end of last month, according to a preliminary investigation.
Flight recorders showed flight TM470 crashed on November 29 while Herminio dos Santos Fernandes manipulated the Embraer 190's auto-pilot in a way which "denotes a clear intention" to bring the plane down, said Mozambican Civil Aviation Institute (IACM) head Joao Abreu.
"The reason for all these actions is unknown and the investigation continues," Abreu said.
The plane crashed in torrential rains in a swamp of Namibia's Bwabwata National Park on November 29, killing its six crew and 27 passengers.
It was flying from the Mozambican capital Maputo to Luanda in Angola.
Abreu said Dos Santos Fernandes locked himself inside the cockpit, ignored warning signals and did not allow his co-pilot back in moments before the Embraer 190 hit the ground.
"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.