Fear griped both passengers and officials of Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria , (FAAN) at the Benin airport currently undergoing renovation as Benin bound Arik plane from Lagos hovered for several hours failed to land.
The over 50 passengers on board narrowly escaped death yesterday when the airline hovered around the airport airspace for over 25 minutes.
The incident which occurred at about 7: 45 am saw residents leaving around the airport fleeing from their homes for the fear of that the plane may crash land.
The flight however flew back to Lagos after it failed to land at the Airport. One of the passengers on board who craved anonymity spoke to LEADERSHIP on phone, disclosed that some “passengers fainted due to fear. We thought it was going to be another serious crash. We were hovering round the Benin airport but we could not land. Of course people were shouting the name of Jesus until we were taken back to Lagos”.
A source at the Benin Airport confided in LEADERSHIP that the Pilot may have failed to get landing clearance from the Control Tower, while another source attributed it to weather condition which forced the plane to return to Lagos.
However, when the Airport Manager Mr Segun Ayodele was contacted on telephone by newsmen, he said he was unaware of the incident adding that “ if such thing happened I would have been called and briefed.”