About 53 passengers
on board an Aero Contractors flight escaped death on Tuesday as heavy smoke
suddenly engulfed the cabin of the Lagos bound aircraft midway.
The incident,
it was learnt, started about 40 minutes into the flight, which departed the
Port Harcourt International Airport at about 4.08pm and continued till the
aircraft landed at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, which was another
20 minutes. There were 52 adults and one
infant on board. One of the passengers
who identified himself as Nicholas told aviation correspondents that the smoke
almost chocked all on board and many thought the aircraft would crash due to
the incident.
Nicholas
explained that the smoke filled the plane about 20 minutes before landing at
the Lagos Airport, adding that there was massive panic even among the cabin
crew. He explained that most passengers resorted to prayers.
Experts told
Daily Sun that the incident, believed to have started at the cargo compartment
of the aircraft, could have been caused by so many factors, among them the age
of the aircraft and some electrical faults.
According to, Aero has been in a state of
financial distress in recent years prompting the Assets Management Corporation
of Nigeria (AMCON) to take over its management. It currently operates two
aircraft in its fleet. Although the pilots of the flight successfully landed
the aircraft at the Lagos airport without any loss of life, both the Nigerian
Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the management of the airline have launched
an investigation to unravel the cause of the fire. Spokesman for NCAA, Mr. Sam
Adurogboye, told Daily Sun that the regulatory body had commenced an
investigation into the incident. “We got the report and we are investigating
it,” Adurogboye said on phone.
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