By Chinelo Obogo
The Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has confirmed that an Air Peace aircraft sustained no damage following a recent collision with an antelope at the Asaba International Airport.
Though the flight operation was disrupted after the plane hit and killed an antelope, the Bureau said the aircraft has continued to operate.
The Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Michael Achimugu, announced the accident on X on Sunday, saying: “Monitoring reports yesterday indicated that an Air Peace aircraft ran into a large antelope, decimating the animal and leaving the aircraft AOG (aircraft on ground). As a result, flights meant to be operated by this aircraft would naturally be disrupted, even though engineers are on the ground to assess and fix the plane. Passengers waiting would naturally be infuriated.”
However, the Director General of the NSIB, Alex Badeh, during a recent interview on Arise TV said the aircraft was fine and continued its journey to Abuja without any damage.
“The incident was reported to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority NCAA. Since there was no significant issue, it was not reported to the NSIB. However, we plan to reach out to the private entity managing the airport to discuss best practices,” he said.
He further stated that such occurrences involving animals on runways are rare in Nigeria and acknowledged that challenges such as perimeter fencing and instances of wildlife intrusion exist at some airports.
However, he emphasized that these are not unique to Nigeria and occur at airports globally, including in the United States. “It’s unfair to generalize that our airports are totally unsafe. We recognize the need for continuous improvement, and we commend the efforts of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) in implementing upgrades,” Badeh said.