By our reporter| Tragedy was averted on Tuesday following the successful evacuation of all passengers on board a Dana aircraft after its tyres caught fire shortly before departure from the Port Harcourt international airport, Rivers state.
The aircraft take-off, operated by Dana Airlines Limited was eventually aborted.
A spokesman for the airline, Kingsley Ezenwa, who confirmed the incident in a statement on Tuesday said no life was lost and no passenger was injured.
He explained that the aircraft with registration number 5N JOY was set to take off from Port Harcourt to Lagos when the incident occurred.
Ezenwa stated that the pilot in command had noticed an anomaly before take-off which he queried with the Air Traffic Control (ATC) before embarking on a ramp return.
He said the impact on the brakes affected the aircraft tyres, causing them to spark off while the aircraft was taxiing to repark.
According to the airline official, all 50 passengers on board disembarked safely while the aircraft was immediately grounded by the company’s maintenance team.
He apologised to the passengers on the flight for the inconveniences caused due to the eventual cancellation of the flight, adding that the incident was being investigated.
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