An Atlanta, Georgia bound Delta Air’s flight which departed Murtala Muhammed International Airport Lagos at about 10: 45 pm local time (21:00GMT) yesterday (Tuesday) made an air return to the Lagos airport about one hour after takeoff.
The crew of the flight DL 055 (ATL) operated with an aircraft,registration marks-N858NW contacted Lagos Control Tower and requested for emergency landing after cockpit indicator showed that one of the two engines of the aircraft had caught fire.
The emergency team of the airport was promptly activated and all the agencies were on ground before the aircraft landed safely in the airport at about 11:16 Pm local time, 23:16hrs ( 22:16 GMT) and passengers were evacuated from the aircraft within 90 seconds.
However, five of the passengers sustained varying degrees of injuries during the evacuation process.
It would be recalled that the airline has never had any first major incident since it stated operating to Nigeria in 2007.
Confirming the incident, Delta Air in a statement made available by its media consultant in Nigeria, Top Com said: “Delta flight 55 from Lagos, Nigeria to Atlanta returned to Lagos International Airport Tuesday after an issue with one of the A330-200’s two engines. The flight landed safely and customers exited the aircraft on the runway via emergency slides. Airport fire authorities met the aircraft upon arrival. Delta’s customers were bussed back to the terminal.
It also confirmed that there were casualties but without any death recorded.
“Delta is aware of five customers reporting non-critical injuries as a result of the evacuation,” the airline said.
It added that, “Delta teams have provided overnight hotel accommodations to customers and will rebook customers on an alternate Delta aircraft Wednesday afternoon. The safety of Delta’s customers and crew members is always our top priority”.
Similarly, a special report on the air return/emergency landing and cancellation of the Delta Air flight which African Business Travel News (ABTN) obtained stated
“The flight which initially pushed back at 22:40hrs had Air Return /Emergency landing at 23:16hrs, when the pilot in command (PIC) announced the evacuation of all the passengers on board within 90 seconds, after contacting the Control Towers because the left engine of the aircraft was said to have caught Fire mid air in-flight.
“Passengers were being evacuated via the emergency sliding door within few seconds. All airport agencies Officials on duty were on ground within few minutes that the emergency alarm was announced including Aviation security, (AVSEC) Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority Consumer Protection Officials (NCAA-CPOS), Federal Airports of Nigeria (FAAN) Fire Service, Port Health and Aviation Clinic, Quarantine, NDLEA etc.
“ Although there is no death recorded as at filing this report but quite a number of crew and passenger casualties were recorded and have been taken to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) Ikeja, Nigerian Air Force Base Clinic, and (FAAN) Medical Centre, for speedy medical attention”.
The aircraft remained on the Runway for over one hour which led to its closure before KLM, Lufthansa and Air France airlines were allowed to depart afterwards.
The aircraft was later towed with a push back truck to the open parking bay close to Boarding gate E 63. However the remaining passengers who did not sustain any injury were later taken to hotel after the flight was announced cancelled and rescheduled for a date yet to be specified and communicated.
ABTN is still monitoring to get any further updates in due course.
