Mother luck on Wednesday smiled on 150 passengers on board an Air Peace plane from Asaba to Abuja as they narrowly escaped death after a heavy storm disrupted the plane from landing at the Abuja airport
The affected Air Peace flight departed Asaba Airport at 17.07pm and was estimated to arrive Nnamdi Azikiwe international airport Abuja at 6pm but almost crash landed at the airport before it was diverted to Lagos.
Even in Lagos, the storm, from no where, appeared once more.
According to one of the passengers, Ngige Nwachukwu, for 30mins the passengers and crew came face to face with death!.
” We prayed, sang, cried, moaned, thinking it was over. One young man around me cried more than a baby. The girlfriend was stronger, consoling him,” Ngige recounted.
“Jehovah simply warned us , “go and sin no more.”
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Rather than the 45 minutes estimated arrival time, the plane eventually landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe international Airport Abuja at 11: 47pm.
According to Ngige a media practitioner ” Over 150 of us on Air Peace from Asaba escaped death after our plane hovering for 30mins in the FCT, almost gave in to heavy storm on attempting to land .
“With tyres already out , only the Almighty knows how the pilot pulled back and took the flight on an ascent, on top speed. It was almost 30 mins of face to face with death.
“The plane was hit left to right by the storm, violently ascending and descending. We all gave up until the pilot emerged to a announce after the plane got a little bit stable, we were headed to Lagos for safety”
” In Lagos, another gale of storm saw the plane hovering for another 15mins before it eventually landed.
” Re-fueled, the cabin crew announced flight back to Abuja. Most people rejected it and opted out of the plane. Cardinal Onaikan was also a passenger. In indecision, when I made up my mind to disembark, the pilot insisted the doors were shot and won’t be opened again.
“We took another risk, flying back to Abuja . Of course, the pilot, a Spanish earlier announced that whether in Abuja had become clement.
“God decided to give us another opportunity to live. May His name be blessed forever.” he concluded
Wednesday’s incident was not the first case of emergency landing involving Airpeace aircraft. BusinessDay recalls that on Friday July 23rd 2021, Sixty six ( 66) passengers on board an Air Peace plane narrowly escaped death as the aircraft tyre burst open at the Ilorin International airport
The incident forced the Federal Airports Authorty of Nigeria FAAN to close down the airport for 2 days until the tyre was replaced
