Ime Akpan
Air Peace has blamed the incident involving its aircraft marked 5N BRN on the runway of the Port Harcourt International Airport on June 22 to a downpour.
The aircraft, Flight P47291 carrying 87 passengers and six crew members aboard flew from Abuja and skidded off the runway to the left about 1300m from the Runway 21 threshold of the airport.
The airline’s chief operating officer, Mrs. Toyin Olajide, said in a statement no passenger or crew member was hurt in the incident.
“Our professional crew quickly recovered within seconds of the incident and the aircraft was successfully normalised.
“Our esteemed passengers on board the flight were calm during the incident and disembarked normally.
“Our teams of experts and the authorities are currently reviewing the incident and we will give our cooperation for a thorough exercise.
“We apologise to our esteemed passengers for the inconvenience caused them and wish to assure them that we will continue to prioritise their safety in all our operations,” said Olajide
Similarly, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) confirmed the incident and attributed it to a heavy rain.
“An Air Peace flight numbered 5N BRN, flying from Abuja to Port Harcourt today, skidded off the Port Harcourt International Airport runway at about 1500hours.
The incident occurred during a heavy downpour at the airport.
There were no casualties however, as all 87 passengers and 6 crew members on board the flight were safely evacuated,” said FAAN spokeswoman, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu in a statement.
She added that the runway had been cleared for normal flight operations can continue.
Meanwhile, the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) said in a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Tunji Oketunbi that it had been notified of the incident.
Oketunbi said the agency had already dispatched investigators to the scene.
