The tyres of the aircraft, a Boeing 727-200 marked 5N-BDE, burst as it landed on the runway of Abuja Airport, Nigeria.
The incident, according to sources, caused delays for more than two hours for other airlines preparing to land or take off at the airport as the airspace was closed to clear the aircraft from the runway. Flights from Lagos and other parts of the country had to be diverted to Kaduna airport for landing.
A Space World plane, which hovered over Abuja airport for close to an hour was forced to return to Lagos. The Public Relations Manager of Chanchangi, Alhaji Mohammed Tukur, at a press briefing at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos confirmed the incident. According to him, the flight NCH 190 departed Lagos at 7:15am with 98 passengers on board. �It has successfully landed and was taxing when the two tyres got burst.
The lead crew successfully taxied the aircraft to a halt and passengers were evacuated,� he said. He added that during the incident there was a downpour in Abuja but the pilot was on top of the situation. He also said there was no damage to the aircraft and it would be back in the air after the re-certification by inspectors from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority. Tukur noted that the short closure of the airspace was to allow inspectors to see the runway and remove any particles that might be injurious to other flights.
�The procedure is that when aircraft tyres burst, they have to go and inspect the runway, check if anything happens and if there is any particle they will remove it. They did that and it took about 40 minutes,� he explained. He, however, reassured the passengers that the airline would not compromise the safety profile of the airline. Prior to the air incident, sources confirmed to our correspondent that the aircraft had a smooth ride from Lagos to Abuja.
A passenger in the aircraft said, �The aircraft was fully booked and the journey from Lagos from around 7.15am to Abuja was smooth until we arrived the Abuja airport, where we were informed that there had been a heavy downpour. �The rear tyres of the aircraft got burst when it landed on the tarmac and was about taxing on the runway. Fire-fighters were rushed to the scene to prevent any ugly incident like fire while passengers moved into buses of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria.�
The Punch