Eighteen members of the national Under-20 female football team and 121 other passengers aboard a Cameroun-bound aircraft escaped death on Wednesday as the pilot made an emergency landing at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Rivers State.
It was learnt that the Boeing 737 aircraft belonging to Virgin Nigeria developed some fault less than an hour after it took off from the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos.
Stampede ensued immedaitely the plane, marked 5N –VND, touched down and started taxiing along the runway.
Some of the passengers who allegedly attempted to jump down from the moving aircraft were said to have sustained various degrees of injuries.
Reports say the pilot of the aircraft which was scheduled to make a stop-over in Port Harcourt before proceeding to Duala, Cameroun, had announced that he was going to make an emergency landing because one of his engines had malfunctioned.
The pilot reportedly made the announcement after contacting the authorities of the Port Harcourt International Airport and asking that the fire department be put on the alert.
Ambulances were deployed to evacuate the passengers on board. But the people were not patient enough for the plane to stop taxiing before they tried to force their ways out. Some of those who got down in a hurry sustained injuries.
I saw the falconets yesterday at the airport which made this news so shocking to me cos barely a few hours before the unfortunate incident i had exchanged pleasantries with them.
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