Delta airline confirms five injured in engine fire outbreak

… To rebuke passengers Thursday
Delta Airline in Lagos, on Wednesday, confirmed that its flight, ‘Delta flight 55’, from the Murtala Muahmmed International Airport, Lagos, Nigeria, to Atlanta, returned to Lagos International Airport Tuesday after an issue with one of the A330-200’s two engines.

According to a statement from the airline’s office in Lagos, the flight landed safely and customers exited the aircraft on the runway via emergency slides.

It added that Airport fire authorities met the aircraft upon arrival, saying that Delta’s customers were bussed back to the terminal.

“Delta is aware of five customers reporting non-critical injuries as a result of the evacuation. Delta teams have provided overnight hotel accommodations to customers and will rebook customers on an alternate Delta aircraft Wednesday afternoon. The safety of Delta’s customers and crew members is always our top priority”, the statement reads.

Also a special report from a Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) source on the flight DL 055(Atl) ETD 22:45hrs involving the A330-200 with reg. mark N858NW, explained that ‘although there is no death recorded, quite a number of crew and passenger casualties were recorded and have been taken to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, Air force base clinic, and Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN( medical centre for speedy medical attention’.

It explained that ‘the flight which initially pushed back at 22:40hrs had Air Return /Emergency landing at 23:16hrs, when the pilot in command (PIC) announced the evacuation of all the passengers on board within 90seconds, after contacting the Control Towers because the left Engine of the Aircraft was said to have caught Fire mid-air into the flight’.

‘Passengers were being evacuated via the emergency sliding door within few seconds. All Airport agencies officials, including Aviation Security (AVSEC) of FAAN, NCAA-CPOS, FAAN fire service, Port health and aviation clinic, Quarantine, NDLEA among others on duty were on ground within few minutes that the emergency alarm was announced.

He said the Delta Aircraft was still on the Runway for over 1 hour which led to its closure before KLM, Lufthansa and Air France to depart afterwards, adding that the aircraft was later towed with a push back truck to the open parking bay close to Boarding gate E 63.

“However the remaining casualty – free passengers were later taken to hotel after the flight was announced cancelled and rescheduled but Consumer protection officers (CPOs) are still monitoring to get any further updates in due course”, the source said.