Five
passengers were injured on Tuesday night as Delta Air plane on which they were
travelling lost an engine and was forced to make an emergency landing at the
Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Lagos.
The
near-mishap occurred about an hour into the Lagos-Atlanta flight, when the left
engine caught fire. However, the plane landed safely and about 200 passengers
were evacuated within 90 seconds.
The Guardian
learnt that officials of the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) and the
Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) have started investigating the
incident.
Delta
Airlines also confirmed the incident via its website, saying there was an issue
with one of the Airbus 330-200’s two engines. It added that passengers were
later lodged in a hotel and would rebook on an alternate Delta aircraft
yesterday afternoon.
According to
an emergency first responder, the flight, which was initially pushed back at
22:40hrs had air return/emergency landing at 23:16hrs when the pilot in command
announced the evacuation of all the passengers on board within 90seconds. This
was after contacting the control towers because the left engine of the aircraft
was said to have caught fire mid air in-flight.
“Passengers
were evacuated via the emergency sliding door within a few seconds of hitting
the runway. All airport agencies’ officials on duty were on ground within a few
minutes that the alarm was raised. The agencies include Aviation Security
(AVSEC), NCAA, Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), fire service, Port
Health and Aviation Clinic, Quarantine and the National Drug Law Enforcement
Agency (NDLEA).”
The source
added that although no death was recorded, there were quite a number of crew
and passenger casualties who had been taken to hospitals for medical attention.
The incident
also forced the runway to be closed for a while, with the Delta aircraft still
on the landing surface for over one hour. Other carriers like KLM, Lufthansa
and Air France were delayed until the aircraft was later towed with a push-back
truck to the open parking bay close to the Boarding gate E 63.
According to
Delta, five customers reported non-critical injuries as a result of the
evacuation.
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