Since Kenya Airways flight 507 crashed soon after take off from Douala International Airport in Cameroon last week killing all 114 on board, search and rescue operations have been painfully slow and frustrating.
Soon after the Boeing 737-800 disappeared from radars, the authorities appeared to be in confusion and, local journalists say, it took more than 24 hours for a co-ordination team to be put together.
Even after that, a team was despatched to hunt for the plane some 400km (248 miles) from the crash scene, posing questions about the abilities of the authorities to manage such a crisis.
Red tape
Kenyan investigators at the site, who include military and aviation specialists, admit they have been ruffling feathers in dealing with their hosts, who they find inflexible.
"There is too much red tape here. Even when we are faced with a deadline to recover the body parts before they totally decompose," an investigator who sought anonymity told me.
Kenya Airways Chief Executive Titus Naikuni, however, told a press conference in Douala that they respect Cameroon's authority as the main investigators.
Joshua Osih, an aviation consultant in Douala, concedes that the local crisis team has been, to a large extent, a let down.
"The professionals have been pushed aside in favour of politicians and this has resulted in the mission delays," says Mr Osih.
Despite the urgency of the task, the crisis committee has failed to assemble the appropriate equipment for search operations - even though air force helicopters are readily available in Cameroon, he said
Bodies
Observers have also questioned the initial use of unqualified personnel to search for the bodies at the wreckage.
"We lack a sizeable mortuary that will accommodate the forensic process "
Before the Cameroon Red Cross took charge, local villagers who had volunteered were being supervised at a distance by the police, as they combed the mangrove swamp for visible bodies or body parts.
"We appreciate the goodwill of the local people but in this case close professional supervision would have improved the pace," a Kenyan official lamented.
By Wednesday evening, human parts that can make up 76 bodies had been recovered from the wreckage.
Kenya Airways has flown forensic experts in from the United Kingdom to help with the identification of the bodies; earlier reports said France will also assist in the process.
NATIONALITIES OF MISSING
But the challenges of identifying victims remains a formidable one.
Dozens of relatives of the victims have flown or driven into Douala to assist in the process.
The airline is providing counselling services at a crisis centre set up at the centre of the city. Several religious leaders have also been hosting prayer sessions for them as they mourn.
"We lack a sizeable mortuary that will accommodate the forensic process and matching of the body parts that will reconstruct the victims," Mr Osih said.
The ideal situation is for the Cameroon authorities to begin the process of perhaps setting up refrigerated cargo containers to serve as makeshift morgues, but nothing is being implemented, observed Mr Osih.
He conceded that the plane crash has been a wake-up call for Cameroon's authorities to set up a proper and professional disaster preparedness team.
"Going by what happened to the plane it's clear that however rapid the authorities were no lives would have been saved, but we should learn from these mistakes and improve for the future."
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