50 passengers were rescued when fire gutted the tyres of an aircraft operated by Dana Airlines Limited in Port Harcourt Airport, Rivers State.
Truetells Nigeria reports that the incident occurred on Monday evening at the Port Harcourt airport.
It was also gathered that no life was lost and no passenger was injured as first responders including operatives of the fire service at the airport moved in to control the situation.
In a statement on Tuesday morning, Dana Air spokesman, Kingsley Ezenwa, confirmed the incident.
In the statement titled, “Press statement on Port Harcourt Incident of 2/5/22” Ezenwa said the aircraft had been grounded pending the conclusion of their investigations.
It partly read, “Our aircraft with registration number 5N JOY operating flight 9J 344 from Port Harcourt to Lagos on 2nd of May 2022, was set to take off when the pilot in command noticed an anomaly which he queried with the Air Traffic Control before embarking on a ramp return in line with our strict safety operating procedures
“However, the impact on the brakes as a result of the aborted take-off affected the aircraft tyres which sparked off while the aircraft was taxiing to re-park.
“All 50 passengers onboard the aircraft disembarked safely and our maintenance team have immediately grounded the aircraft pending the conclusion of their investigations.
“Once again, we sincerely apologise to all the passengers on the flight for the inconveniences caused due to the eventual cancellation of the flight.”
The Nigerian civil airspace has maintained a relatively safe record in about a decade now which has increased passengers’ confidence in air travel.
The last air crash in the country involving a commercial airplane was in June 2012 when a Dana Air MD-83 aircraft from Abuja crashed near the Lagos airport, while attempting an emergency landing, killing all 153 souls on board and six on the ground.
Dana Air is a Nigerian airline headquartered in Ikeja and based out of Lagos’s Murtala Muhammed International Airport.
Flight cancellation: Ex-NSA Legal Adviser sues Dana Air for N125m
A former Legal Adviser in the Office of the National Security Adviser, Sanya Ogunkuade, has dragged Dana Air Limited before Justice A. O. Ebong of a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja over alleged breach of agreement and flight cancellation without alternative provisions.
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council were joined as defendants in the suit which processes were obtained by The PUNCH in Abuja on Thursday.
The plaintiff in the suit marked CV/093/2022 filed by his counsel, Ayodele Gatta and Dayo Ayilara also demanded N100 million “for the agony, trauma, mental torture, embarrassment and public disrepute”, to which he was subjected as a result of the defendant’s reckless and most irresponsible acts.
He also asked for N25 million jointly and severally, being the cost of the litigation against the defendants.
The plaintiff also claimed N200,000 “special damages” against Dana Air Limited for the purchase of alternative tickets on the days in question and “other incidents expenses/costs occasioned by the unexpected and unwarranted rescheduling and cancellation” of his flight on the days in question.
He asked the court to make an order compelling the 2nd and third defendants (NCAA and FCCPC) to sanction Dana Air Limited “by withdrawing its operating license in the Nigerian airspace, or in the alternative, placing it on a minimum of ten years suspension of operation, from the date of judgment of this Honourable court.”
The claimant said that on two occasions, he had his time-bound and very critical official assignment flights/trip cancelled by Dana Airline Limited without alternative provisions by the air carrier, thereby leaving him stranded, traumatised, helpless and in deep stress and embarrassment.
According to him, his letters to the NCAA and the FCCPC requesting them to sanction the reckless airline were not given the appropriate consideration/action.
The judge has fixed the case till May 11 for hearing.
