Friday, 17 July 2015

Tragedy averted as two aircraft collide at Lagos Airport

Tragedy was averted on Friday at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2 in Lagos following a ground collision of two aircraft belonging to FirstNation Airways.

A similar incident had occurred at the airport on July 6, following the collision of two aircraft belonging to Emirates and Hak Air.

Friday’s incident which happened at about midday involved two Airbus 330 conveying not fewer than 250 passengers.

The two aircraft were partially damaged as a result of the collision.

A source at the airport said one of the aircraft was taxiing from the runway to the terminal, for passengers to disembark while the other aircraft was preparing to take off to Port-Harcourt from the same terminal.

The source said the pilot may have been misdirected by the marshals who led the pilot to taxi to the wrong part of the apron.

According to the source, the Port Harcourt bound aircraft was parked at Gate 4 while the arriving aircraft was bound for Gate 3 of the terminal.

However, the source claimed that the marshals misdirected the arriving aircraft to the same Gate as the parked aircraft which led to the two wings brushing each other.

Following the incident, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority immediately grounded both aircraft while passengers were asked to disembark by the airline.

It was gathered that the refund of tickets were made to passengers on the Port-Harcourt bound aircraft by the airline.

The NCAA also confirmed the incident in a statement issued by its General Manager, Public Affairs, Fan Ndubuoke.

Mr. Ndubuoke said no passenger was hurt and that the incident had been referred to the Accident Investigation Bureau for further investigation.

He also reiterated NCAA’s commitment to safety and security of passengers.

 (NAN)




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