About 250 persons narrowly escaped death yesterday when a First Nation Airways plane hit another stationed aircraft belonging to same airline at the Murtala Mohammed Airport 2 (MMA2), Lagos, while taking off to Port Harcourt.
While the airline refused to speak about the embarrassing incident, LEADERSHIP gathered that the two Airbus 330 planes had about 250 passengers and crew members on board when the accident occurred but no casualty was recorded.
According to a source at the airport, one of the planes was taxiing from the runway to MMA2, to disengage passengers while the other aircraft was preparing to take off to Port-Harcourt Airport from the same terminal.
The two aircraft had their bodies partially damaged as a result of the collision. Following the incident, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), immediately grounded both aircrafts while passengers were asked to disembark from them.
Confirming the incident, the NCAA spokesman, Mr Fan Ndubuoke, said the infuriated passengers immediately demanded refund of their ticket fees which the airline obliged. He said the NCAA has referred the incident to the Accident Investigation Bureau for proper determination of the cause of the accident and how precautionary measures could be taken to avoid future occurrence.
He assured that the NCAA was committed to air safety, adding that there was no reason for air passengers to be apprehensive. According to him, “No passenger was hurt. Their fares have been refunded to them while NCAA has referred the incident to AIB. We wish to assure Nigerians, especially air passengers, that the NCAA remains committed to safety and security of passengers,” Ndubuoke said.
