A Nigerian passenger plane was damaged as it skidded off a waterlogged runway on landing at Lagos airport on Tuesday, an aviation offical said, reviving safety fears about 10 days after a deadly crash.
“At about 11am (10am GMT) today [Tuesday], an Associated Airlines plane coming from Benin City ran into bad weather on arriving in Lagos. It landed on the flooded tarmac and skidded, damaging its front nose tyre,” said Sam Adurogboye, a spokesperson of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
“All the 17 people on board the plane are safe,” he said, adding that after “the collapse of the wheel, it got stuck on the tarmac and blocked it. The tarmac was blocked for about an hour and 25 minutes before it was cleared to allow for the free flow of traffic.”
Adurogboye said an investigation had been launched into the cause of the crash, but he could not confirm a television news report that the pilot had ignored an order from air traffic control not to land because of the water on the runway.
The Shorts SD-3-60 passenger turboprop which was damaged can carry 19 passengers and is 18 years old, Adurogboye said.
The incident was one of a series involving Nigerian planes in recent months.
On October 22 a Bellview Airlines Boeing 737 passenger jet bound for Abuja crashed in the village of Lissa, just north of Lagos, killing all 117 passengers and crew on board.
Aviation experts were on Tuesday still investigating the scene of that crash. – AFP