The aircraft ĺof an Arik Air flight from Lagos to Accra on Tuesday evening was suddenly filled with smoke mid-air, a passenger has said.
The passenger who identified himself as Emmanuel said the flight took off from Lagos at 7:20pm and about 35 minutes after, there was a smell of something burning before smoke filled the cabin.
He said, “I boarded Arik Air flight W3304, a Dash 8 NextGen propeller aircraft to Accra on Tuesday and about 35 minutes into the flight, I started perceiving something; shortly after that, smoke 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 demonstration prior to take-off couldn’t be released instead we were handed tissue papers to cover our noses to minimise and filter out possible carbon monoxide inhalation. About five minutes after, precisely with 15 minutes of flight time remaining, the pilot came on the public address system to inform us that they have smoke coming into the cabin and that they don’t know the source but that they have declared emergency.”
The passenger said the aircraft successfully landed by 8.15pm (7.15pm Accra time) to the waiting of several fire service trucks at the Kotoko International Airport, Accra and passengers were evacuated into a waiting bus with instruction to leave everything behind in the cabin.
Simon Tumba, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria’s Spokesperson for Arik, confirmed the incident.
“There was a smoke incident on the flight which receded before the plane landed. Arik has made a formal report to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, and is fully cooperating in the investigation,” he said.
Sam Adurogboye, the spokesperson, NCAA’s General Manger, Public Relations, said that the incident would be investigated as required by civil aviation regulations.
IFEOMA OKEKE
