The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), has debunk news making the round in the media of an air crash involving Air Peace Being 737-500 aircraft in the country.
The Aircraft with registration Mark 5N-BQR and had 66 passengers on board departed from Abuja enroute Ilorin, landed at the airport and lost two of its back tyres on the active run-way forcing the suspension of operations temporarily at the terminal.
According to a statement signed by the General Manager, Public Relations, NCAA, Sam Adurogboye, there was no accident in the sector involving any aircraft in the country
He said: “The attention of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has been drawn to a sensational report making the rounds that an aircraft with belonging to Air Peace B737-500 with Registration Mark 5N-BQR was involved in a crash in Ilorin yesterday.
“The Authority wishes to state categorically that there is no air accident in Nigeria involving Air Peace or any airlines.
“As a matter of fact, the said aircraft which departed from Abuja successfully landed in Ilorin. It only experienced tyre burst in the course of taxing.
“Meanwhile, all the 66 passengers and 6 crew members onboard were disembarked without any issues whatsoever on the same day being the 23rd of July, 2021.
“The Authority wishes to enjoin the travelling public to disregard such false and reckless presentation.
READ: Africa: Nigerian carrier, Air Peace set to resume aviation operations on Lagos-Accra route on March 15
“We want to urge our media partners to inculcate professionalism and avoid false news which will harm our blossoming reputation. NCAA is committed to ensure safe and secure air transport in Nigeria and will stop at nothing towards ensuring our over eight (8) years of zero accident, no fatality in scheduled flight operations continues, “he stated.
Similarly, Overland Airways, a carrier in the sector has refuted the use of the picture of the airline in the purported air crash, describing the action as malicious and misleading.
A statement by the management of the airline said: “Our attention has been drawn to a malicious use of Overland Airways photograph in a report by The Nation Newspaper online depicting that Overland Airways aircraft was involved in an accident at Ilorin airport on Friday, July 23rd 2021, irrespective of the fact that the report also stated that the incident involved a different airline.
“We want to state clearly that Overland Airways was not involved in the said incident as maliciously purported by The Nation Newspaper.
“We are dismayed by the sheer harmful intention of the widely read Newspaper to mislead the public in the report which has since gone viral online.
“Overland Airways is an IATA member airline which operates to the highest global safety standard with the globally acclaimed IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) Registration, a global benchmark of operational safety amongst the world’s biggest airlines.
“Overland Airways condemns the irresponsibility displayed by the Newspaper in publishing the false and misleading report.
“We therefore demand unreserved apology from the Newspaper and their corrigendum on their newspaper to correct the false damaging impression on Overland Airways to the general public.
“Overland Airways has been consistently operating scheduled and charter services for almost 20 years in Nigeria and West Africa region. Overland Airways is committed to providing safe and efficient air transport service to support our passengers, as well as Nigeria’s and the region’s economies.”
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