TheNewsGuru

Tag: Plane

  • BREAKING: Chartered plane conveying Nigerians to Lagos from Dubai makes U-turn

    BREAKING: Chartered plane conveying Nigerians to Lagos from Dubai makes U-turn

    A chartered plane conveying Nigerian returnees from the United Arab Emirates has made a U-turn after a pregnant woman reportedly went into labour.

    The Chairman of the Nigerian in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa confirmed this to Channels TV.

    The plane, which was scheduled to arrive at 3 pm is now expected to land at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport at 7 pm.

    After weeks of delay, the first batch of Nigerians stuck abroad amid the coronavirus pandemic were expected in the country today.

    The Emirates flight is expected to be the first of at least two other flights scheduled to evacuate Nigerians within the next few days.

    According to the foreign ministry, discussions are ongoing with British Airways to airlift 300 Nigerians from London on Friday; arrangements are also being made with Ethiopian airlines for a flight from New York to Abuja next Monday.

    Over 4,000 Nigerians are waiting to be evacuated across the world back home, foreign affairs minister, Geoffrey Onyeama said on Monday.

  • Photo: Six die as plane carrying coronavirus medical supplies crashes

    Photo: Six die as plane carrying coronavirus medical supplies crashes

    Six people, including two pilots, were killed when a plane carrying medical supplies crashed in south-western Somalia on Monday.

    “The cause of the accident is not yet known,” government spokesman Ismael Mukhtar Omar told the Germany’s news agency dpa.

    The plane, which was carrying medical supplies needed in the fight against the coronavirus, took off from Baidoa airport in the Bay region.

    It crashed shortly after, near the town of Bardaale where it was meant to land, Omar said.

    Gilbert Kibe, director general of the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, confirmed to dpa that the plane belonged to Kenya’s African Express Airways.

    But he said there was no official reports about the casualties or cause of the accident.

    Some reports later said the son of Muse Bulhan, the owner of the African Express Airways was one of the pilots, who died.

    Speculation in local media also was that the crash was caused by a missile from Ethiopian troops stationed in the area.

    Ethiopian authorities were not available for comment.

    Ethiopian, Somalian, and African Union forces operate in the area because of the threat posed by the Islamist militant group al-Shabaab.

    The group, which is affiliated with the international al-Qaeda terrorist network, wants to establish an Islamist state in Somalia.

    It repeatedly attacks security forces and civilians.

    Although based in Somalia, it also regularly carries out attacks in neighbouring Kenya.

    Islamic State has also gained an increasing foothold in the Horn of Africa

  • Tragic: Airplane carrying coronavirus medical supplies crashes

    Tragic: Airplane carrying coronavirus medical supplies crashes

    A plane believed to be carrying coronavirus medical supplies has crashed during takeoff.

    The aircraft, bound for Haneda, Japan, crashed at Manila International Airport in the Philippines, killing all the eight people on board, on Sunday.

    It had purportedly been chartered by the government and was carrying emergency supplies to the country as it battles against the spread of coronavirus.

    Tape from the crash scene showed huge flames as emergency services scrambled. Pictures later emerged of the burnt-out wreckage after firefighters got the blaze under control.

    The aircraft is reportedly owned by Lion Air, a charter service company in the Philippines.

    Cases of coronavirus in Japan, where the plane was destined, have spiked in the last few days as the government held off placing the country on lockdown.

    Tokyo governor, Yuriko Koike, had warned that the capital was entering “an important phase in preventing an explosive rise in the number of infections.”

    He asked the 14 million people living in the city to stay at home over the weekend.

    Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, also warned the country was getting closer to a national emergency.

    He promised an unprecedented package to protect the world’s third-biggest economy from collapse.

     

  • Four die in mid-air plane collision

    Four die in mid-air plane collision

    Four people died after two small planes crashed mid-air at a regional airport in Australia, the Police said.

    The incident took place near Mangalore Airport, some 120 kilometres north of Melbourne on Wednesday morning.

    “Emergency services were called to two separate crash scenes.

    “It is believed that two aircraft collided mid-air before crashing,’’ Victoria Police’s leading Senior Constable, Kendra Jackson, said in a statement.

    “Two occupants in each aircraft have died at the scenes.

    “The four persons are yet to be identified.’’

    Later, another police officer at the scene clarified that the two aircraft collided mid-air, but were not incinerated, before crashing to the ground.

    “One plane almost certainly crashed immediately and the other plane crashed about two kilometres north from here and both were extensively damaged prior to colliding with the ground,’’ Peter Koger, a local area commander, told reporters.

    Police said the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) have been notified.

    CASA said one of the planes was a Piper PA-44 Seminole twin-engine registered to a local training centre, while the second was a privately-owned Beech Travel Air D95A.

    Police, CASA and ATSB are all currently investigating.

  • Plane slides off runway, catches fire at Airport

    Plane slides off runway, catches fire at Airport

    A passenger plane veered off the runway, on Wednesday and catches fire at an Istanbul airport, but there were no immediate reports of casualties, according to Turkish media.

    Broadcast footage showed the nose of the plane from Turkish budget airlines Pegasus completely smashed. Passengers were seen exiting through one wing.
    Private broadcaster NTV reported that there were 177 people on board.

    The plane was flying back from Izmir, on Turkey’s Aegean coast, to Istanbul, which has been hit by high winds and heavy rains.

    The accident took place at Sabiha Gokcen Airport on Istanbul’s Asian side.

    State broadcaster TRT reported that the airport had been closed for the meantime.

    However, firefighters were dispatched to the scene immediately and evacuations were ongoing.

  • Iran admits to shooting down Ukrainian plane

    Iran admits to shooting down Ukrainian plane

    Iran on Saturday said it unintentionally shot down the Ukrainian airliner that crashed this week killing 176 people, calling it an “unforgivable mistake”.

    The Ukraine International Airlines plane came down on Wednesday shortly after Iran launched missiles at bases hosting American forces in Iraq in response to the killing of Qasem Soleimani, one of Iran’s top generals, in a US drone strike.

    “The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply regrets this disastrous mistake,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani tweeted.

    “Armed Forces’ internal investigation has concluded that regrettably missiles fired due to human error caused the horrific crash of the Ukrainian plane & death of 176 innocent people,” he added.

    “Investigations continue to identify & prosecute this great tragedy & unforgivable mistake.”

  • Child found dead in plane at airport

    Child found dead in plane at airport

    A child stowaway was found dead Wednesday in the undercarriage of a plane at a Paris airport, officials said, having probably frozen to death or asphyxiated on the flight from Ivory Coast.
    The child, aged around 10, had clambered into the underbelly of the Air France Boeing 777 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
    It took off on Tuesday evening and landed at Charles de Gaulle airport, north of the capital, early Wednesday morning.
    The corpse, not warmly dressed, was found in the plane’s undercarriage cavity after landing, in what Air France described as “a human tragedy”.
    Sources close to the investigation told AFP the boy was about 10 years of age, and that he had “died either from asphyxiation or from the cold”.
    Temperatures drop to about minus 50 degrees Celsius (-58 degrees Fahrenheit) at altitudes of between 9,000 and 10,000 metres at which passenger planes generally fly.
    The undercarriage is neither heated nor pressurised.
    In recent years, several clandestine passengers, notably adolescents from Africa, have been found frozen to death or crushed in the undercarriage of Western-bound planes.
    “Aside from the human drama, this shows a major failing of security at Abidjan airport,” an Ivorian security source told AFP, asking how a child, alone, could gain such access.
    The last such case in France dates to April 2013, when the body of a boy, likely a minor, was similarly found in the undercarriage of a plane from Cameroon.
    Laure Palun, director of an association helping migrants, told AFP this type of drama was the inevitable result of the “closure and control of borders”.
    “It questions the logic of European migratory policy: As soon as there is no route for legal migration, people have to hide to reach the country they wish to go to, and this results in such tragedies.”
    Ivory Coast is a comparatively vibrant economy in Africa with an annual growth of eight percent since 2012. But illegal immigration to Europe has skyrocketed in recent years.
    In 2017, 8,753 migrants aged between 14 and 24 arrived in Italy from Ivory Coast, including 1,474 unaccompanied minors, according to the CEVI NGO.

  • BREAKING: Plane conveying Hajj returnees crash lands in Niger

    Plane conveying over 600 pilgrims returning from the 2019 annual pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia crash landed at the Minna International Airport.

    The aircraft, a Boeing 744 with registration number 5N/ DBK was said to have developed technical fault in one of the plane’s four engines when it approached the Minna airport.

    A Source at the airport who confirmed the incident to newsmen said that no one was injured or died in the incident but the passengers were visibly shaken over the incident.

    Evidence of the crash landing of the plane could be seen as part of the tarmac and some materials were damaged when the aircraft skidded off the runway.

    The Public Relations Officer of the Niger state Pilgrims Welfare Board, Hajia Hassana Isah when contacted also confirmed the incident but did not give further details.

    According to reports, five officials of the Accident Bureau of Investigation from Lagos had arrived the airport some hours after the incident and had inspected the partly damaged aircraft after which they went into a closed door meeting with the management of the airport.

    On the part of the passengers, it was thanksgiving galore as most of them after rushing out of the plane after the incident gushed their thanks to God for saving them from death.

    Eyewitnesses said that the Minna International Airport was saved from a big disaster as they said the fire from the aircraft, if the plane had crashed would have burnt down the airport as there are no fire fighting vehicles in the airport.

    “The fire that would have followed would have spread to all parts of the airport because we don’t have fire fighting vehicles in this airport”, a senior Official of the airport said.

    No official statement has been released from the management of the airline.

  • Emiliano Sala: Body recovered from plane wreckage

    A body has been successfully recovered from the wreckage of the plane that went down in the English Channel with Cardiff City striker Emiliano Sala on board.

    The UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) confirmed late on Wednesday that the victim, who has not been publicly identified, will now be passed to the Dorset Coroner, having been recovered with the help of specialist contractors.

    The Piper Malibu aircraft disappeared with Sala and pilot David Ibbotson on board on January 21.

    A private search was launched, backed by donations from the public, after authorities halted their initial efforts to find the plane and the wreckage was found under water on Sunday, 24 nautical miles north west of Guernsey.

    The AAIB said one of the occupants was visible amid the remains of the plane and have now confirmed that a recovery has been successful.

    However, it said attempts to retrieve the aircraft have been stopped due to bad weather.

    “Following extensive visual examination of the accident site using the remotely operated vehicle (ROV), it was decided to attempt recovery operations,” the AAIB said in a statement.

    “In challenging conditions, the AAIB and its specialist contractors successfully recovered the body previously seen amidst the wreckage. The operation was carried out in as dignified a way as possible and the families were kept informed of progress.

    “Unfortunately, attempts to recover the aircraft wreckage were unsuccessful before poor weather conditions forced us to return the ROV to the ship. The weather forecast is poor for the foreseeable future and so the difficult decision was taken to bring the overall operation to a close. The body is currently being taken to Portland to be passed into the care of the Dorset Coroner.

    “Although it was not possible to recover the aircraft, the extensive video record captured by the ROV is expected to provide valuable evidence for our safety investigation.

    “We expect our next update to be an interim report, which we intend to publish within one month of the accident occurring.”

    Sala had been travelling to Cardiff after saying goodbye to his former team-mates at Nantes, having sealed a transfer to the Premier League in a club-record deal for the Bluebirds.

    Nantes have reportedly demanded the first €6 million installment of the transfer fee, with Cardiff chairman Mehmet Dalman insisting they would send the payment “when we think it’s the right time to do it”.

    “The first reason is that the body has not been recovered yet,” he told L’Equipe about the lack of payment so far. “We must show respect to the family. There is a process for recovering the plane.”

    Goal

  • New national carrier to take off by December, says Sirika

    New national carrier to take off by December, says Sirika

    The Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, has restated that the proposed national airline for the country would be unveiled before the end of the year.

    Sirika, who gave the assurance while receiving the outline business case certificate of compliance from the Director General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Chidi Izuwah, said the presentation of the certificate indicated official approval of the process through which the project had gone so far.

    The minister said the national carrier would be a public/private partnership arrangement, as the only way to deliver an airline that would stand the test of time.

    He commended the ICRC director general and his team for ensuring that the national carrier project remains on track by observing all legal aid regulatory frameworks.

    Sirika also expressed satisfaction with the way the transaction advisers have carried out their assignments with utmost diligence and timeliness, assuring that the carrier that would be delivered would be world class in operation and management.

    He debunked claims that the proposed airline would sound the death knell for other airlines operating in the country, saying Nigeria, with a population of over 180million people with so many unserviced routes, offered more than enough space for all serious airlines to operate profitably.

    Earlier, Izuwah described the presentation of the certificate of compliance as an official green light to proceed with the procurement process.

    He said his commission, in granting the certificate, reviewed the project structuring report, also known as the outline business case, in line with the ICRC Act of 2005.

    According Izuwah, the certificate was granted on the condition that the Federal Government has committed to leveraging on private sector capital and expertise towards the establishment of the national airline through the provision of a viability gap funding for the project.

    He gave other conditions for granting the certificate as official commitment to zero contribution to airline management decisions and zero government control, warning that any attempt to impose government control would invalidate the certificate and the entire process.

    The ICRC director general commended Sirika for his commitment to changing the face of aviation in Nigeria through infrastructural renaissance. He said the PPP remained the only viable option for the country in view of dwindling national resources.