No less than 50 passengers were rescued on Monday when fire gutted the tires of an aircraft operated by Dana Airlines Limited at the Port Harcourt Aiport in the Omagwa area of Rivers State.
It was gathered that the incident happened as a result of technical issues on the aircraft, as no life was lost or passenger injured due to the swift response of the fire service at the airport.
A press statement by the affected airline through its spokesperson, Kingsley Ezenwa, on Tuesday said the aircraft has been grounded pending the conclusion of investigations.
The statement further disclosed that the aircraft that was bound for Port Harcourt to Lagos was set for flight when the pilot noticed a hitch.
It read in part, “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 takeoff affected the aircraft tyres which sparked off while the aircraft was taxiing to repark
“All 50 passengers on board the aircraft disembarked safely and our maintenance team has immediately grounded the aircraft pending the conclusion of their investigations.
“Once again, we sincerely apologize to all the passengers on the flight for the inconveniences caused due to the eventual cancellation of the flight.”
