Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke has narrated his experience after escaping from plane crash at Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos State, South-West Nigeria.
It was gathered that Adeleke and some of his aides boarded a private jet owned by his elder brother at the domestic wing of Lagos airport going to Abuja on September 5, when the aircraft lost its two engines and caught fire on the runway, while about to take off.
The incident was said to be as a result of birds which had built their nest in one of the engines and resulted to Foreign Object Damage that made the aircraft experience high temperature, resulting in the explosion.
However, spokesperson to the Governor, Rasheed Olawale who confirmed the reported aircraft incident, said that there are strong indications that the two aircraft engines were tampered with before boarding.
In a statement released by Olawale, he maintained that the highly technically equipped aircraft was well maintained with the best technical crew and was never an unused platform where birds could build nests.
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According to Olawale, contrary to the claim by the hanger owner that birds’ nests caused the incident, birds’ nests are made with straws not binding wires as in this case.
He stressed that the near fatal incident was averted shortly after boarding and less than two minutes after the commencement of taxiing on the tarmac, adding that an early warning noise from the engines immediately prompted the pilots to direct the evacuation of the passengers. Everything happened within five minutes.
Olawale added that early reports from the internal investigation indicated sabotage. But the authorities, locally and internationally, are still investigating the incident.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
