Posted by By Henry Chukwurah, Port Harcourt on
No fewer than 196 passengers of an Air France international aircraft narrowly escaped death Wednesday at the Port Harcourt International Airport when the aircraft ran into some cows crossing the runway. Although the right wing of the aircraft was seriously damaged, the female pilot drawing from rich experience, managed to taxi to safety.
No fewer than 196 passengers of an Air France international aircraft narrowly escaped death Wednesday at the Port Harcourt International Airport when the aircraft ran into some cows crossing the runway. Although the right wing of the aircraft was seriously damaged, the female pilot drawing from rich experience, managed to taxi to safety.
Sources at the airport stated that the aircraft, A 330 with registration number F - GZCF had arrived the airport with its mainly white passengers at about 4.30 am and was about landing when it ran into the cows, killing seven of them. The accident, it was gathered, occurred barely two days after officials of the Airport pursued a group of cattle rearers out of the runway area.
In a statement issued later in the day, the local management of Air France confirmed that no passenger or crew was injured. "The aircraft taxied safely to the gate on time at 04.30am local time. The aircraft is presently on ground for safety reasons and will not be flown until all necessary safety precautions have been taken."
The airlines officials stated that, "a maintenance team is locally checking the aircraft" while an Air France mechanical team is on the way from Paris "to further certify the safety of the plane."
Following the accident, the airlines' flight for Wednesday night to Paris was cancelled.
Daily Sun learnt that while the airline's management counted their losses, there was the "sunny side" of the incident as airport workers who were on duty, had more than enough free meat from the slain cows.
Said an official, "the fast ones made away with as much as one leg and a head each before some villagers joined in the rush for meat." Meanwhile, highly dependable sources at Air France told Daily Sun that all the passengers have been taken to "a good hotel'' to enable them recover from the shock.