A teenager named Daniel Ikehina unbelievably beat
airline and airport security at the Benin airport today
Saturday August 24th and sneaked into the tyre
compartment of a Lagos-bound Arik flight. The boy flew
safely with the aircraft which left Benin around 9am
today and landed at Murtala Muhammed airport, hidden
throughout in the undercarriage. He was immediately
arrested by airport security after passengers saw him
emerging from the aircraft tyre hole.
Arik spokesman Banji Ola explains what happened:
The management of Arik Air has expressed shock over
the incident wondering how the teenager beat the
Aviation Security personnel at the Benin Airport to
get to the runway.
The pilot of Arik Air flight W3 544, departing Benin
Airport for Lagos at 9.00am today 24th August, 2013
reported to the control tower the presence of a
strange boy in the bush about 200 – 300 meters at the
end of runway 23.
The control tower told the Captain that they were
sending security men to the place to arrest the boy.
As the captain was making his final turn, preparatory
for take-off, a cabin crew called his attention to the
information by some of the passengers that they saw a
boy running towards the airplane.
The First Officer confirmed that they had observed it
earlier and alerted the control tower which responded
that they have sent the patrol team to arrest the
boy. The Captain again reported to the control tower
and was informed that the situation was under control
and that he had been cleared for take-off.
On arrival at the domestic wing of MMA, Lagos, a
teenage boy, who apparently had sneaked into the
aircraft main wheel well jumped out and was arrested
by Arik personnel and handed over to FAAN security.
Meanwhile the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria
(FAAN) blamed Arik Air for the incident.
FAAN said in a statement:
“Arik Air acted with impunity by not stopping the
aircraft to check when the crew and ground
personnel’s attention was drawn to an abnormality on
the tarmac. This is arrant display of impunity. The
aircraft should not have taxied further, but return to
the apron until a proper check is carried out on all
parts of the aircraft. FAAN will not tolerate such
impunity henceforth from Arik or any airline. Any
violation would be met with applicable sanctions.
This is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Accordingly, it is difficult to figure out when to end it. But then, this is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Period.
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