An Accra bound Arik Air Flight W3304 from Lagos on Tuesday night caught fire 35 minutes after takeoff from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
The 55 minutes flight was operated by Bombardier Q400 (Dash 8) aircraft and it took off at about 7:20 pm Nigerian time.
A passenger who narrated his experience in the flight said the fire was noticed by acrid smell of burning plastic, which wafted into the cabin of the aircraft, accompanied by huge smoke which source could not be traced by the frantic cabin crew.
The passenger who gave details of the incident described it as horrible flight experience and a near crash incident.
According to the passenger, “35 minutes into the 55 minutes flight, I started perceiving something smelling like a burning stuff. Shortly after the guy sitting next to me asked if I perceived any smell of burning stuff and that confirmed my worst fears. Before you could say jack, smoke has filled the cabin. The air hostesses were busy scampering around opening the cabins and the lavatories to check if they could trace the source of the smoke without success.
“While that continued, the oxygen masks that were always being advertised during the safety demo prior to take-off couldn’t be released; instead we were handed tissue papers (otherwise called serviets) to use to cover our noses to minimize and filter out possible carbon monoxide inhalation.
“About five minutes after, precisely with 15 minutes of flight time remaining, the pilot came on the public address system to inform us that they have smoke coming into the cabin and that they don’t know the source and that they have declared emergency”
The passenger said he was relieved when the flight successfully landed by 8.15pm (7.15pm Accra time) to the waiting of several fire service trucks at Kotoko International Airport, Accra.
“We were evacuated into a waiting bus with instruction to leave everything behind in the cabin. Sadly there was no Arik official to address us neither was there any manner of first aid attention given to the passengers to manage stress and possible elevated blood pressures.
“After a while our cabin luggage were brought to us and we had to leave from there to go through the Ghana immigration to our individual destinations,” he added.
Reacting to the incident, Comunications Manager of the airline, Banji Ola said in a statement, “Arik Air flight W3 304 from Lagos to Accra on March 6, 2018 declared an emergency in line with standard operating procedures, when unknown source of smoke was detected in the cabin 81 miles from Accra.
“The captain of the flight briefed the passengers accordingly assuring them that the aircraft was under control and safe for landing in Accra.
“The aircraft, a Dash 8 Q400, landed safely in Accra without further incident and all passengers disembarked normally.
“The aircraft is currently parked in Accra and our team of engineers are conducting comprehensive inspections on the aircraft to ascertain the cause of the smoke, after which the aircraft will be flown without passengers to a maintenance facility for rectification and testing. The relevant aviation authorities in Ghana and Nigeria have been briefed appropriately on the incident.”
