Passengers are stranded at the Maiduguri International Airport, Borno State, after a Max Air aircraft developed a “technical fault” and could not take off to Abuja, SaharaReporters reports.
According to SaharaReporters, one passenger said the same aircraft developed a fault on Friday but flew to Abuja around 2 p.m.
The passengers feared that the aircraft was not fit enough to fly after developing one fault after another while calling on the aviation authorities to investigate the matter.
“This is an accident of monumental national catastrophe waiting to happen. The earlier Max Air is prevented from flying in the Nigerian airspace, the better it is to save innocent lives that may soon perish.
“On Friday, the aircraft that flew passengers out of Maiduguri around 2pm was reportedly faulty. The same aircraft today took passengers to Maiduguri and couldn’t take off back to Abuja, grounded because of a technical fault again,” another passenger recounted.
“We are currently stranded the same way Abuja to Lagos passengers were left stranded for 6 hours on Friday. This is the grounded aircraft presently parked with stranded passengers at Maiduguri Airport,” a passenger confirmed to SaharaReporters.
SaharaReporters’ efforts to reach Max Air for comments were unsuccessful when filing this report.
REPORTERS AT LARGE recall that SaharaReporters also recently reported on November 22 that panic ensued when a Dana flight from Lagos to Abuja aborted takeoff due to a faulty engine, leaving many passengers stranded.
Passengers aboard the flight had said they heard a loud explosion when the aircraft was about to take off, prompting the pilot-in-command to abort takeoff.
Many of the passengers are said to be stranded at Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two (MMA2).
One of the passengers had said, “The captain was trying to manage the situation, but the report we had was that the plane lost its two engines. We had two explosions, and the aircraft lost two engines. God saved us; it would have been a big disaster.
“Until now, the plane cannot move; the passengers are stranded here. They are not making any effort; they are not moving. We have complained to the NCAA, but they have not done anything.
“It happened around after 11. Flight 9J335 was scheduled for 10:15. Until now, they have not done anything. They have not scheduled us; they are just keeping quiet. Nobody is talking to us; it is a very pathetic case. We have made an official complaint to the NCAA.”
