The Acting General Manager, Corporate Affairs of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Faithful Hope-Ivbaze, has announced the closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja runway.
According to him, this was due to the emergency landing involving Max Air aircraft on Sunday.
“It involves one of the domestic airlines but I don’t have the details. We will get to know the details later. The airplane had an emergency landing,” Hope-Ivbaze told newsmen in Abuja.
Also speaking, the former president of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Mike Ogirima, who witnessed the incident, said in a viral video that the tyre of Max Air aircraft burst after takeoff at Yola Airport.
The NMA former president, however, told journalists that the aircraft made emergency landing in Abuja with emergency officials already on ground to address the issue before the passengers disembarked at the runway.
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Ogirima noted that, “We thank God. We are still on the runway and pilot has reassured us. He has called for the stairs and we are now disembarking from the runway to be evacuated to the airport building at the arrival hall.
“We bless God because we have witnessed the pull out of the tyre right from the airport in Yola and we went into prayer session. I never announced it as a surgeon so as not to cause any panic but we bless God.”
The passengers were safely disembarked from the runway while the runway has been temporarily shut until the evacuation of the aircraft.
The General Manager, Public Affairs, AIB, Accident Investigation Bureau, Nigeria, (AIB-N), Adetunji Oketumbi, said “there is an occurrence at the Abuja airport and our team are on their way to the place. I have told them to update me when they get there.