Hundreds Cheat Death as Tyre of Qatar Airways Plane Burst at Lagos Airport

Hundreds of passengers on Thursday escaped death when one of the tyres of a Dubai-bound Qatar Airways aircraft burst while it was attempting to take-off at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

The Cable reported that the incident was said to have occurred around 3pm.

One of the passengers, who spoke to reporters, said the pilot was already cleared for take-off by the air traffic controllers when they suddenly heard a loud sound.

According to her, this prompted the pilot to stop briefly before deciding to taxi the aircraft back to the terminal where it earlier departed.

She said the frightened passengers resorted to prayers.

“We were held in fear for some time. We thank God that the plane had not gathered the full speed for takeoff, we would have been saying something else,” she said.

The aircraft was later parked for repair, while the airline management embarked on alternative arrangement for the affected travellers.

Efforts to get the reaction of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) proved abortive as calls and text messages to its spokesman were not responded to.