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A light of hope in my life: Kechi Okwuchi, Sosoliso crash survivor, gratitude to Shell

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6 years ago

February 6, 2018

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Though many no longer remember the tragedy of the 2005 crash of Sosoliso Airline in Port Harcourt, Rivers Sate, which claimed the lives everyone on transits except one. The plane crash caused untimely death of many school children on board the aircraft who were returning from Abuja to Port Harcourt for holidays, including a famous Pastor and specialist in Singles and Married gospel, Mrs. Bimbo Odukoya.

Fortunately, Miss Kechi Okwuchi was lucky to survive the untimely death. She was further lucky to get the support of the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC) for all the bills of her medical treatment.

Miss Kechi Okwuchi finds it inevitable to hold back her gratitude to the oil giant for making her stay alive after the plane crash. Miss Kechi Okwuchi in the company of her father’s friend, Mazi Victor Okoronkwo, and her aunty, Mrs. Uloma Umeano, visited the SPDC where they were received by Mr. Osagie Okunbor, Managing Director, SPDC and Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria.

Kechi, one of the school children returning from school in Abuja to Port Harcourt, had escaped death but suffered third-degree burns. The SPDC did not hesitate to intervene urgently in her plight; deployed resources to facilitate her being air-lifted to South Africa for immediate medical attention and treatment. She later moved to the United States where she has undergone several surgeries with SPDC’s continued financial support.

It was gathered that Kechi’s father, Mr. Okwuchi, in an appreciation letter read by Mazi Okoronkwo had highlighted: “On December 10, 2005, Shell intervened, notwithstanding the medical uncertainty to save life regardless of cost; intervention propelled by a corporate policy that puts life above else. We thank and applaud you for it.”

Kechi was gathered to have also expressed: “I am incredibly grateful and I walk through every day of my life knowing that I am here today because of the amount of effort SPDC put into making sure that I stayed alive…you came when all looked dark and you shone a light of hope into my life.”

She declared that her family would remain grateful to SPDC for ensuring she received the best medical care available. “I have never seen this kind of kindness from a corporation before,” she exclaimed. Kechi also presented a certificate of recognition from the Shriners Hospitals for Children (Galveston, Texas) to SPDC for its thoughtful and generous contribution to the hospital.

Okunbor had acknowledged: “it was instinctive for us as an organisation to react the way we did as the most important thing for us then was to save and preserve lives. Even though we were not directly involved, the leadership decided that we had to intervene and do all we could as a company to help and today, I am happy we did.”