An aircraft belonging to ValueJet skidded off the runway at the Port Harcourt International Airport in Rivers State on Tuesday afternoon. sending passengers into a brief panic and confusion.
Details of the incident are still sketchy, but we gathered that the ValueJet CRJ 900 Bombardier aircraft unexpectedly skidded off the runway landed in an emergency way around 3:30 pm. There are reports of injuries, but no deaths have been reported.
The airplane overshot the runway upon landing at 15:32 hours with 62 passengers and five members of the flight crew.
The passengers were confused by the unexpected incident but the aircraft with registration 5N-BXR safely landed despite the worrisome scenario.
Managing Director of ValueJet, Capt. Dapo Majekodunmi clarified that Captain Stanley Balami reported the slip was caused by algae on the taxiway, stopping the aircraft from maintaining the centerline.
Majekodunmi assured the public that ValueJet is committed to safety and that there have been no interruptions to the airline’s operations.
This is the third plane accident in Nigeria in as many weeks. On Sunday, an Aero Contractors Airlines Boeing 737 jet crash-landed at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja. Last week, a private HS25B aircraft operated by Flint Aero narrowly avoided tragedy when it crash-landed on the runway at Ibadan Airport in Oyo State.