A major air disaster was averted when Delta Airplane made emergency landing at the Muritala Muhammed International Airport , Lagos shortly after taking off when the pilot of the plane noticed that the left engine of the aircraft caught fire mid air in-flight.
The pilot of the Delta Air flight DL055 (ATL)ETG immediately contacted the control tower at the Lagos Airport to prepare for emergency landing. All emergency aviation officials were immediately contacted and fire fighters placed on standby. After landing successfully, all the passengers aboard were quickly evacuated via the emergency sliding door within few minutes.
Although no death was recorded but quite a number of crew and passenger casualties were recorded and have been taken to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, Ikeja, Air Force Base Clinic and Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Medical Centre for speedy medical attention.
Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines power the aircraft, according to Flight Fleets Analyzer.
A statement from the airline reads: “Delta flight 55 from Lagos, Nigeria to Atlanta returned to Lagos… Tuesday after an issue with one of the A330-200’s two engines,” says Delta in a statement.
“The flight landed safely and customers exited the aircraft on the runway via emergency slides,” Delta says. The airline says fire personnel met the aircraft after landing.
Meanwhile, the incident led to the closure of the runway as the Delta Aircraft was on the Runway for over 1hour thereby preventing KLM, Lufthansa and Air France already positioned for take off from departing. The aircraft was later towed with a push back truck to the open parking bay close to Boarding gate E 63.
The remaining casualty – free passengers have been taken to an Hotel after the flight was announced cancelled and rescheduled for a date yet to be specified and communicated.
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