Serrekunda, Gambia
In a mid-air flight catastrophe, the Gambian football team players, while travelling to Ivory Coast on Wednesday (Jan 10), reported an abrupt shortage of oxygen in the aircraft following which the plane was forced to make an emergency landing minutes after it took off from the airfield in Banjul.
Saidy Janko, the former Manchester United, Celtic and Nottingham Forest player, shared the video of the harrowing incident on his official social media handle where passengers could be seen profusely sweating while gasping for air.
Dubbing the mishap as "unacceptable", the former Manchester United player explained how many passengers passed out from a lack of oxygen and experienced headaches.
“After travelling 32 hours in total from Saudi Arabia(Training Camp) to The Gambia with long layovers in Istanbul and Casablanca, we were supposed to fly from Gambia to Ivory Coast for the AFCON today,” Janko wrote.
“As soon as we entered the small plane that was hired to fly us, we noticed the immense heat that left us dripping in sweat. It was assured to us by the Crew that the air condition would start once we are in the sky,” he continued.
'People started falling deeply asleep minutes after entering aircraft'
He further explained how the lack of oxygen left some passengers aboard the plane with severe headaches and extreme dizziness.
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“The inhumane heat mixed with the occurring lack of oxygen left many people with strong headaches and extreme dizziness. Furthermore, people started falling deeply asleep minutes after entering the aircraft/take off,” he explained.
“Whilst in the Air, the situation got worse, leaving the pilot with no other option, than initiating an emergency landing back in Banjul airport nine minutes after takeoff. Which happened successfully.”
“If it wasn’t for this, the consequences could have been a lot worse !!!.. knowing what could have happened, if we would have been exposed to the situation for any longer - in an airplane, running out of oxygen,” he added.
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“We are grateful that everyone is feeling well but this is a situation that has to be addressed going into the AFCON, as being only one of our obstacles on international duty. This is unacceptable and such has to cease with immediate effect,” he concluded.
The athlete then further emphasised how crucial airplane safety is.
“We are grateful that everyone is feeling well but this is a situation that has to be addressed going into the AFCON, as being only one of our obstacles on international duty. This is unacceptable and such has to cease with immediate effect,” he concluded.
While speaking to Nieuwsblad, Gambia national team coach Tom Saintfiet said, "We could all have been dead. We all fell asleep quickly. Me, too. I had short dreams about how my life was done. Really and truly. After nine minutes the pilot decided to return because there was no oxygen supply. Some players did not wake up [until] immediately after landing. We almost got carbon monoxide poisoning. Another half hour of flying and we would all have been dead."
The Gambian Football Federation also released a statement saying, "The Gambia Football Federation (GFF) regrets to inform the general public that the Chartered Flight carrying the Scorpions to the African Cup of Nations has returned to Banjul due to technical problems. The flight was nine minutes airborne when the crew realised and immediately requested to return to Banjul."
The statement further said that the airline was probing what led to the lack of oxygen in the aircraft.
"Upon landing, preliminary investigations indicated that there was loss of cabin pressure and oxygen. However, the technical team of the operating company of the flight, Air Cote d’Ivoire is further assessing the situation to establish what caused the lack of oxygen and cabin pressure," it added.
(With inputs from agencies)