In what would have been another calamity, the plane which was carrying Professor Ishaq Akintola, the director of Muslim Rights Concern, among others, was said to have suddenly lost altitude, 20 minutes after it departed from Lagos. This forced it to wobble in the air for over one hour before it was eventually diverted to Abuja.
Professor Akintola said: “The plane lost altitude 20 minutes after takeoff and we had to make use of the oxygen masks. We saw smoke outside the plane, probably coming from the engine compartment.
“At this time, the whole plane was thrown into commotion and many passengers screamed and some fainted, with prayers upon prayers being offered. Some shouted Allah and others Jesus and as the pilot was making the announcement of the flight diversion, I noticed that his voice was trembling."
He added that in the midst of the commotion, the crew, whom he commended for their professionalism and unusual calmness, announced that the plane would be diverted to Abuja. According to Professor Akintola, the plane finally touched down in Abuja at about 9.00pm and upon landing, airline officials told the devastated passengers that the fault would be hurriedly repaired and that the plane would proceed to take them to Kaduna, their original destination.
Professor Akintola said that he eventually took a taxi from Abuja to Kaduna as he could not risk being flown in the same aircraft that was divinely saved from crashing. He added that officials said they wanted to repair the plane but he was not prepared to risk flying ion the same aircraft to Kaduna.
An Aero Contractors spokesman said: “Aero confirms that there was depressurisation in the aircraft cabin leading to the dropping of oxygen mask. Since Aero has a maintenance facility in Abuja, the flight to Kaduna was diverted to Abuja to fix the problem.”
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