Faithful Hope-Ivbaze, the Acting General Manager, Corporate
Affairs of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, (FAAN) confirmed to
BusinessDay that the runway was currently closed after an airline had an
emergency landing.
“It involves one of the domestic airlines but I don’t have
the details. We will get to know the details later. The airplane had an
emergency landing,” Hope-Ivbaze said.
In a viral video, Mike Ogirima, former president of the
Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), who was on the aircraft when the incident
occured said the tyre of Max Air aircraft burst after takeoff at Yola Airport.
However, the aircraft made emergency landing in Abuja with
emergency officials already on ground to address the issue before the
passengers disembarked at the runway.
“We thank God. We are still on the runway and pilot has
reassured us. He has called for the stairs and we are now disembarking from the
runway to be evacuated to the airport building at the arrival hall,” Ogirima
said.
“We bless God because we have witnessed the pull out of the
tyre right from the airport in Yola and we went into prayer session. I never
announced it as a surgeon so as not to cause any panic but we bless God.”
The passengers were safely disembarked from the runway while
the runway has been temporarily shut until the evacuation of the aircraft.
Adetunji Oketumbi, general manager, Public Affairs, AIB,
Accident Investigation Bureau, Nigeria, (AIB-N) said “there is an occurrence at
the Abuja airport and our team are on their way to the place. I have told them
to update me when they get there.
Oketumbi who did not disclose the airline’s name said he
needed to be verify the details with his team who were almost at the place of
the incident.