By ANDREW OJIEZEL
What could have been a serious air disaster was averted when the Arik Air Aircraft, which lost an engine mid-air from Lagos to Jos.
The aircraft, a Boeing 737 with the registration number 5N-MJD, departed from Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, for Jos when the pilot discovered that the plane had lost one of its engines during the flight.
A source close to the airline told our correspondent that the aircraft was already 60 miles away from Lagos before the incident occurred.
Immediately after the pilot discovered the problem, he contacted the Lagos control tower, which granted him emergency landing status.
Passengers panicked when they were informed that the aircraft would return to Lagos, SaharaReporters gathered.
Upon landing in Lagos, it was gathered that the aircraft could not taxi out of the runway and it took the intervention of the Airport Rescue and Fire-Fighting Services (ARFFS), a department in the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), to tow the aircraft to the hajj and cargo terminal area of the airport in order for the passengers to disembark from the aircraft.
“The incident occurred at noon on Friday. The aircraft had departed Lagos for Jos, but barely a few minutes into the journey, the pilot radioed the Lagos control tower that it needed to return to base.
“When the control tower heard this, they approved the pilot for emergency landing, which he did successfully. The aircraft had to be towed out of the runway by the ARFFS because it could not move again.”