TRAGEDY was averted when an aircraft which had Adebayo Adelabu, Minister of Power, on board crash-landed near Ibadan Airport in Oyo State.
Information had earlier filtered in that the aircraft crashed, but it was later discovered that it crash-landed.
Details of the incident were still sketchy as of press time but this newspaper gathered that it happened on Friday night.
This newspaper cannot state if the minister or those on board sustained any injury in the incident, which happened after the Nigerian Metrological Agency (NiMET) issued travel warning based on hazy weather.
The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) had also advised Pilots and Airline Operators to exercise caution over hazardous weather as the dry season approaches.
The chartered aircraft Flint Short Aero, an HS 125 with the registration number: 5N-AMM, had an initial contact with the control tower at 18:56 seeking for extension, which was granted by the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), according to a source.
The source told our correspondent that the aircraft landed short of the threshold with about 50 metres and skidded into a bushy ditch close to the runway.
Dr James Odaudu, Director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection of the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), said investigation was ongoing.
“On the accident involving an aircraft operated by Flint Aero at the Samuel Ladoke Akintola Airport Ibadan, please be informed that the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has commenced investigation into the cause.
Our investigators are on site, and further information will be provided as soon as possible,” he said in a terse statement.
A spokesperson of NSIB, Mr. Tunji Oketunmbi, had earlier told this newspaper that the Bureau’s investigators were on ground in Ibadan to ascertain the immediate and remote causes of the incident.
The aircraft departed Abuja with Ibadan as its destination.
