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Another air disaster was
averted at the Nnamdi Azikwe Airport, Abuja on Monday as a Med-View Airlines
aircraft from Lagos suddenly took to the air again at the point of
landing in Abuja.
The pilot told the
passengers that he took to the air again to avoid a collision with
another aircraft on the tarmac.
The airline Flight VL2104
took off from the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos at noon and was
scheduled toland in Abuja at about 1.05pm. The pilot had already
announced final descent into Abuja and asked all passengers and cabin
crew to fasten their seat belts but the pilot suddenly took off to the air again
with barely 30 seconds to touch ground.
The plane had 150 passengers on
board. A correspondent of The PUNCH was one of the passengers.
After about three minutes
of gaining altitude, the pilot announced that he decided to take off again to
avoid colliding with an aircraft that was on ground.
He said that after he had
been granted clearance to land, it was later discovered that the other
aircraft was not fast enough, hence his decision to take off.
The aircraft hovered for
another 20 minutes in the air before finally landing at about 1.30pm.
While the drama lasted, the
passengers were panic-stricken, especially when the plane entered into
turbulent weather on air.
The PUNCH correspondent
said that among the passengers were five different complete families.
One of the
passengers, a nursing mother, who was breastfeeding her son at the time the
pilot took off again reportedly withdrew the breast from the boy’s mouth and
started praying profusely while the baby’s cry rentedthe air.
When the plane finally
landed, the passengers struggled to disembark.
“Are you still sitting
down? Let me rush down in case it will suddenly take off again,” a
middle-aged man was heard teasing one of his co-passengers.
PUNCH
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