A Valuejet aircraft on Tuesday slipped off the runway while taxiing after landing at the Port Harcourt International Airport in Rivers State, South-south Nigeria.
The aircraft, a CRJ 900 Bombardier with registration number 5N – BXR which had 67 passengers and five crew members on board landed around 3:30 p.m., Thisday newspaper reported.
No fatality was recorded.
In a statement on Tuesday, the airline’s Managing Director, Dapo Majekodunmi, blamed the incident on “algae on the taxiway which made it unable to maintain the centre line situation,” adding that “no damage was done to the aircraft.”
The incident occurred about 48 hours after another aircraft was nose-stuck at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
Vanguard newspaper reported how the accident, which involved a Boeing 737 aircraft with the registration number: 5N-BYQ belonging to Aero Contractors, occurred.
The plane which departed Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos in the morning nose-stuck at the Abuja airport after landing around 10:47 a.m., forcing authorities to temporarily shut down the runway.
“The aircraft upon landing at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja from Lagos and in a bid to exit the runway via A4 had its nose wheel stuck in the grass verge with its fuselage on the runway, ”James Odaudu spokesperson for the Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) said of the incident.
“The NSIB, hereby, solicits information from the general public in the form of pictures, video or recording evidence to assist in conducting a comprehensive investigation.
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“The NSIB is a multimodal investigation agency charged with the mandate to investigate transportation accidents and serious incidents in Nigeria to identify the probable causes and proffer safety recommendations that can prevent re-occurrence.”
Mr Odaudu promised to release the preliminary investigation report “as soon as possible”.
