An Arik Air flight from Lagos to Accra, Ghana was allegedly engulfed in fire incident midair. The issue was reported yesterday and the Airline has come out to give account of what actually transpired in the plane.
One of the passengers, who took to social media, narrated his ordeal and that of the other passengers onboard the aircraft, which departed Lagos at 7pm with an estimated time of 55 minutes flight.
According to the passenger, about 35 minutes into the flight, air travelers onboard the Dash 8 NextGen propeller aircraft, perceived smoke, which made everyone onboard uncomfortable.
He lamented that to make matters worse, the oxygen masks, which were supposed to serve as breathing equipment for passengers in case of an emergency like such, was deployed but was not functional.
He declared that this further threw confusion among the passengers and the cabin crew who gave the passengers toilet tissues to cover their nostrils.
The passenger added:
“Before you could say jack, smoke had filled the cabin. The air hostesses were busy scampering around opening the cabins and the lavatories to check if they could trace the source of the smoke without success.
“While that continued, the oxygen masks that were always being advertised during the safety demo prior to take-off couldn’t be released instead we were handed tissue papers (otherwise called serviets) to use to cover our noses to minimise and filter out possible carbon monoxide inhalation.”
The passenger explained further that 15 minutes into the whole unpleasant experience, the pilot announced to the passengers that the aircraft had smoke coming into the cabin and they could not identify source of the smoke.
However, Mr. Banji Ola, the spokesman, Arik Air, confirmed the incident in a statement to journalists.
Ola in the statement said that the aircraft in question, travelling from Lagos to Accra, Ghana, had smoke coming from its cabin on its way to Ghana.
He added that the captain of the flight briefed the passengers accordingly assuring them that the aircraft was under control and safe for landing in Accra.
He, however, said that the aircraft was currently parked in Accra while its team of engineers were conducting comprehensive inspections on the aircraft to ascertain the cause of the smoke, after which the aircraft would be flown without passengers to a maintenance facility for rectification and testing.
He added that relevant aviation authorities in Ghana and Nigeria have been briefed appropriately on the incident.
