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By Chinelo Obogo
A near serious incident occurred on Saturday, May 11, after an aircraft belonging to XeJet Airline with 52 passengers and three crew members onboard, skidded off the runway on landing at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos.
The aircraft, an Embraer 145, with the registration number 5NBZZ, departed Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, around 11:30am. Then upon landing, it skidded to the grass verge of the 18 left runway. All the persons onboard were safely evacuated.
Similar incident occurred barely three weeks ago after a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 with the registration number 5N BKI belonging to Dana Air, also suffered a similar incident following the rainfall that fell earlier in the day.
The incident Dana suffered led to the suspension of the Air Operators Certificate of the airline by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
At the time the XeJet aircraft landed, the runway surface was wet due to the rains.
Fire and rescue officials were on ground to help in evacuating the passengers; at the moment, Runway18L is closed to traffic.
The Director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection Department of NSIB, Mrs. Bimbo Oladeji, confirmed the accident of the XeJet aircraft.
She said: “NSIB confirms that an aircraft belonging to XeJet Airline skidded off the runway at the domestic wing of Murtala Muhammed Airport this morning; a team has been deployed to the site of the incident.”
