The management of Air Peace has debunked reports that its aircraft en-route Ilorin from Abuja had a “minimal tyre burst” after landing at the Ilorin international airport, Kwara state.
The incident occurred Friday morning when the B737-500 aircraft with registration number 5N-BQR was taxing.
There were reports on social media that an Air Peace crash landed at the Ilorin airport as passengers escaped death.
But Air Peace, in a statement on Saturday sent to TheCable, described the report as “sensational publication of falsehood”, noting that no such incident happened.
“For the record, no such thing happened. The reports misrepresented and exaggerated the facts. We can confirm that the aircraft in question landed safely but had a minimal tyre burst while taxing,” the statement reads.
“This debunks all the mischievously headlined reports circulating online, which should be disregarded.
Our aircraft neither crashed nor crash landed in Ilorin or in any place for that matter. This kind of sensationalism is bad and was intended to cause panic in the minds of the flying public.
“It was duly reported to the authorities and passengers disembarked seamlessly. The tyres have, however, been fixed and the aircraft is intact. We condemn sensational publication of falsehood.”
Henrietta Yakubu, general manager corporate affairs of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), in a text message to TheCable said the airport runway is open.
“The airport is open now. Overland Airways landed by 0521hrs,” she said.
