No fewer than 100 passengers on a Qatar Airways flight escaped unhurt yesterday when the tyre of their Boeing 767 aircraft suddenly burst.
The sudden incident occurred while the aircraft was attempting to initiate a take-off on the runway 18, right of the international wing of the Murtala Muhammad Airport in Ikeja, Lagos.
The tyre burst happened at exactly 2:59pm, after the Captain of the aircraft had been issued clearance for takeoff.
The Leadership reports that the aircraft was already set to gather speed for take-off when, unexpectedly, one of the tyres burst with a loud sound.
The pilots later stopped briefly, before moving the aircraft back to the terminal from where it had departed a few minutes before.
A passenger, who did not want to be named, reported that prayers rented the air when they heard the loud sound as they were stricken with fear.
“We are held in fear for some time. We thank God that the plane has not gathered the full speed for takeoff, we would have been saying something else”, the passenger said.
As at the time of filling this report, the plane was still parked at one of the hangers of the international airport for repairs and certification before it would return back to operation.
The aircraft was reported to be on its way to the United Arab Emirates.