All-Out Air Disaster Search Operations Completed
Aramco's initial shock at having lost 22 of its employees and dependents in the air crash of April 18th is passing.
During more than a week following that tragic event the entire company was mobilized into one united effort to ease the aftermath of the accident.
Its concerted action was coordinated from the beginning with the numerous government, military and business agencies in the Eastern Province and local Gulf area which offered all out assistance.
The effort which involved so many came in two distinct phases, divided abruptly by word received early Saturday afternoon, April 18, that a U.S. Marine helicopter had found a wing of the Middle East Airlines Caravelle, missing since early that morning in Gulf waters south of al'Aziziyah beach.
Before the discovery there had been hours of intensive searching by land, sea and air in extremely poor visibility over all areas where the plane might possible have come down.
The night the Caravelle jetliner, on Flight 444 from Beirut to Dhahran, failed to land the wind was blowing at gale force, and the sand it carried reduced visibility to close to zero.
After the plane was not heard from again following a radio contact with the Dhahran International Airport control tower at 12:32 a.m., airport and MEA vehicles went out in the darkness to make a preliminary search.
Aramco's first knowledge that something was wrong came at 3:10 a.m. when the airport director telephoned the night foreman on duty in Dhahran, who immediately alerted the Medical Centers and night foremen in the other two districts.
Company management was notified before daybreak and Abqaiq, Dhahran and Ras Tanura were ordered to prepare desert vehicles for search duty. As soon as the equipment could be mobilized, searches which ultimately involved approximately 90 vehicles from the three districts got underway.
News that the plane had been sighted launched the second phase of the last week's operations, aimed at recovering the crashed plane and the 42 passengers and seven crew members aboard.
In rapid sequence, professional and several amateur Scuba divers, a heavy-lift barge, a flat-top barge and tugs for towing them were dispatched to the crash scene, a base of operations was set up at al-'Aziziyah beach south of al-Khobar and a control center to coordinate the recovery operation established in the district manager's office in the Administration Building, Dhahran.
During the period of organization an Aramco DC-3 flew to the scene of the crash to relieve the helicopter hovering over the downed plane and to guide a pair of fast private craft owned by company personnel, who headed for the site to make closer observations of the situation there.
That afternoon a Comet jet arrived at Dhahran Airport from Beirut carrying an MEA investigation team, whose members began discussions about the cause of the accident immediately after disembarkation.
In the meantime, food, fuel, diving equipment and miscellaneous supplies started flowing to the al-'Aziziyah beachhead over a route that was to be well traveled in both directions over the next full week.
On Monday, April 20, all normal Aramco business was suspended in tribute to the victims of the air disaster and special memorial services were held in Abqaiq, Dhahran and Ras Tanura.
That afternoon, as the Moslem 'Id al-Adhha approached, countless Aramco people were on the job aboard the barges, in search boats, at operations headquarters, in shops and warehouses and on the road, engaged in directing and supplying the huge recovery effort that was going into its third day.
There was no one in Aramco whose actions and thoughts were not affected by the disaster during that saddest four-day holiday period the company has ever experienced. Closest to the events were the divers, boatmen and technicians working on the Gulf and the support groups supplying their needs. Many, however, not so directly involved, helped in numerous other ways such as looking after children of families affected and preparing meals for bereaved relatives.
Few community residents in the world do as much commercial flying as those who live in Abqaiq, Dhahran and Ras Tanura. In the millions of miles traveled by air from Saudi Arabia to distant business assignments and homes over the years, the event of April 18 marked the first time an accident of such magnitude has struck the Aramco community.
Survivors and friends of those who were lost can know from the efforts made during the past ten days that every aid and comfort available was brought into play by countless, nameless people in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia who saw a need, and met it.