COLDPLAY rocker CHRIS MARTIN narrowly avoided death when his plane almost crashed on a charity trip to Africa.

Martin was approaching Tamale Airport in Ghana on a trip for the fair trade charity he works hard to support earlier this month (JAN05), when the plane carrying him hit a dust storm.

The singer says, "We were coming into land. Once a year, for a week, all this dust blows over from the Sahara Desert. You could not see a thing. I couldn't see the ground and nor could the pilot. I found out we were about 200 metres up.

"The plane dropped off violently to the right, then way off to the left. It was lurching all over.

"It was so terrifying.

"My mind was racing and I thought, 'My daughter will have to get a stepdad.'

"I thought, 'I've written a will. The band haven't finished the album but they know how I want to finish certain songs.

"I then thought, 'I'll be dying on a fair trade trip so people will always link me with that.' All these things were going through my head.

"But somehow the pilot pulled it off and landed. I don't know how he did it. I was convinced he wasn't going to.

"It fired me up for the trip. I thought, 'I'm going to learn as much as I can and meet as many people as possible.'"