* Insists aircraft made an ’emergency landing’
Contrary to wide spread reports, the Chairman of Max Air, Alhaji
Dahiru Bara’u Mangal has insisted that his aircraft never
crash-landed in Niger State on Saturday.
Alhaji Mangal, in a statement which he personally signed, said
unlike what was reported, his aircraft had an “emergency landing”
in Minna, the Niger State capital, while conveying pilgrims to the
state from Saudi Arabia.
“Actually, it was not crash landing, rather an emergency landing
and the reasons that led to it are bad weather and power
outage.
“There was no light at the airport when my aircraft reached
Niger State and the weather was also bad.
“However, the beauty of the whole thing is that we have not
recorded any casualty as nobody was injured or died during the
unfortunate incident,” he said.
The chairman added that the aircraft, a Boeing 747-400 series,
was also in good condition despite the unfortunate incident and
called on its customers to disregard reports of a crash landing in
Minna.
According to reports, the plane, with 560 pilgrims and 19 crew
members on board, made a hard landing damaging the aircraft and
some instruments on the runway.
Already some investigators from the Accident Investigation
Bureau (AIB) from Lagos are already in the Niger State capital to
commence investigations into the incident.
In a statement released by the Bureau late Saturday, the AIB
solicited the support of the public to aid in the investigation by
providing it with any video clips or any other relevant
information.