By: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation
Following an incident by an aircraft in the fleet of one of the major airlines in the country, the runway of the Ilorin International Airport has been closed to traffic.
Many passengers, including some highly-placed Nigerians, narrowly escaped death.
All flights to Ilorin have also been cancelled until evacuation of the plane.
The airline began operation from Ilorin Airport on June 16.
According to investigation, the aircraft crash landed at about 9.30am on Friday morning in Ilorin from Abuja.
The plane landed with a bang, which affected the cabin with luggage falling on passengers.
It was gathered with the impact of the crash the plane could not taxi to the tarmac.
In the last 24 hours, the runway of the airport had been closed to traffic.
But all the traumatised passengers were successfully evacuated from the runway.
As at the time of filing this report at 2.08pm, efforts were being made to relocate the plane from the runway.
It was learnt that the process of moving the plane from the runway was slow because, according to a source, “it is a bigger aircraft and we have no equipment.
“We are in the process of removing the aircraft. We have been on it for 24 hours,” the source added.
But the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and other agencies offered to keep the incident under wraps.
“We were directed to manage the situation,” the source said.