‘I escaped death on a Dana flight in May’

Two weeks after the Dana Air plane crash, a lady, Uwem Eyen, has narrated how she narrowly escaped death in a Dana flight, which she said might have been the plane that crashed on June 3 .

Eyen, said on May 10, 2012, the plane which had 86 passengers on board made an emergency landing at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.

She said, “I was traveling to Lagos from Uyo, to write an examination. When we boarded, I observed that it was hot inside the aircraft but assumed that it would become cooler when we took off.

“Ten minutes after ascending, the air hostess announced that the pilot had not turned off the seat belt sign so we had to keep our seat belts buckled.”

Eyen stated that the plane could not ascend to a particular altitude and that all through the journey, the seat belt signs were not turned off and the crew members had to struggle to serve lunch in that condition.

“Also, the air conditioners were not working, just the fans worked and it was hot. The plane eventually got to Lagos and that was when our ordeal took another dimension,” she said.

She added that when they got to Lagos and the pilot announced that they were about to land, the passengers saw the runway light but the plane could not land.

“The pilot apologised and said the landing gear lights were not coming on, so we were going to hover for a little while for him to fix the problem.”

According to her, at this stage, all the passengers panicked.

“We had left Lagos completely and were just hovering around another area; we did not know that he was discharging fuel. People were fanning themselves; there was a woman with asthma who needed air.

“One of the air hostesses, Vivian, who died in the crash, brought the first oxygen gas for the woman but it did not help. She brought another one, it still did not help.

“After about three hours, we had an emergency landing and they said it was hydraulic failure.

“The pilot was complaining that he had called the airport for more than two hours to notify them that there was a problem, but they delayed in coming to help us.”

A day after the incident, Eyen said the airline sent this message to her, “Dana Air apologises for the incident you experienced on our flight on May 10, 2012. We appreciate your co-operation with the crew which ensured a successful outcome.”

via Punch