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Chinelo Obogo
A Lagos-bound Dana MD 83 plane was forced to disembark passengers yesterday after it got stuck in the threshhold of the Sam Mbakwe Airport, Owerri as it was about to take-off.
The incident which happened at the Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport, Owerri, left some of the passengers shaken after the front tyres of the plane got locked making it difficult for taxingi preparatory for take-off at 3pm.
Witnesses said the aircraft approached the runway threshold where planes lift into the air, but could not as one of the wheels was unresponsive and as such had to be grounded.
Consequently, the Dana Air plane blocked off the runway such that no plane could land or take-off for nearly an hour.
The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) had to provide vehicles to carry passengers back to the departure lounge.
Reacting to the incident the Communications Manager of Dana Air, Kingsley Ezenwa, said the incident was not very serious He said that the airline had to send another aircraft to airlift the passengers affected by the technical hitch, saying that the passengers would have reached their destinations around 6pm.
He assured that the airline engineers would immediately ground the affected aircraft and do the needful.
