duty-free shopping used this flight. On that day, after being held over Lagos, the flight continued directly to Abidjan because of poor local weather conditions. More specifically, harmattan winds blowing southwards from the Sahara made skies over Lagos unusually hazy on that day, and all incoming flights at Lagos Airport were halted. After a three-hour layover, the aircraft took off for Lagos at 21:08 GMT. However just seconds after takeoff, at the moment when first officer requested the landing gear to be retracted, the stall warning sounded in the cockpit. The landing gear remained down. In response, the crew put the aircraft into a controlled descent. The first officer told the captain to silence the stall warning. The Ground proximity warning system (GPWS) then sounded briefly, though the radio altimeter sent out warnings seconds after, cutting off the GPWS warning. The master warning then sounded indicating that the aircraft was overspeeding, at which point captain Muthee shouted, "go up," but the aircraft was descending too quickly to recover. The aircraft crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, east of the airport, off the Ivory Coast. The airframe was completely destroyed by the impact. Search and rescue Following the crash of Flight 431, controllers in Abidjan quickly activated the crash siren. An alert was issued to Ivory Coast Air Force, Ivory Coast Fire and Rescue Service, airport officials and French gendarmerie stationed at the airport. French firemen arrived at the beach on 21:15 GMT. Helicopters and multiple aircraft were dispatched to search for the crash site. The airline set up a crisis centre at the InterContinental Hotel in Nairobi, while pleasure boats and tugboats assisted in the search and rescue operation. Multiple ambulances were dispatched and put on standby at a nearby quay. The night time condition was described as very dark and the presence of fog further hampered the search and rescue efforts. Strong currents in the area also posed risks to divers and rescue personnel. Rescue personnel also had to take detour to the crash site due to the absence of a quay near the runway. The aerial search had to be suspended due to the inclement weather condition. The late response of the rescuers had caused the deaths of those who initially had survived the crash. There were times when helicopters flew above the survivors but the rescuers didn't manage to see them. According to Samuel Aigbe, a Nigerian survivor,