Azman aircraft suffers tyre burst, blocks Lagos airport runway
Flight operations nationwide were disrupted yesterday at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos when an Azman Airplane, a Boeing 737-500 with registration 5N-SYS, experienced tyre burst at the runway 18R of the airport.
The incident, it was learnt, prevented some aircrafts from landing at the runway causing passengers of other airlines heading to Lagos to be stranded across the country.
Daily Trust learnt that the incident happened on Tuesday’s evening due to bad weather as the Captain-in-Command was unable to land on first approach at the airport.
A source said, “The weather in Lagos was very bad at the time the aircraft was about to land.
“The pilot tried to land on the first approach but the weather was so bad due to the heavy downpour in some parts of the state.
“However, he landed on a second approach and while landing, the aircraft suffered a burst tyre in an attempt to ensure the aircraft did not skid off the runway.”
As a result of the incident, several flights from Abuja, Port Harcourt and other parts of the country were affected.
A passenger on a Port Harcourt-Lagos flight told our correspondent that there was an announcement from the cabin crew that “No plane can land in Lagos at the moment” while they were asked to disembark pending when they receive clearance from Lagos.
A spokesman of Azman Airline, Mr Nura Aliyu, confirmed the incident to our correspondent, blaming it on bad weather as there was a serious rainstorm at the time of landing.
However, he said the situation was totally under control, adding that passengers were calm and that there was no panic.
As of the time of filing this report, he said the engineers of the airline were making efforts to evacuate the aircraft from the runway.
Another official of the airport who spoke on the condition of anonymity said, “An Azman Airlines plane was involved in an incident in Lagos. A burst tyre on landing. No casualty. Passengers evacuated. Aircraft about being towed.”