A teenager named Daniel Ikehina unbelievably beat airline and airport
security at the Benin airport today Saturday August 24th and sneaked
into the tyre compartment of a Lagos-bound Arik flight. The boy flew
safely with the aircraft which left Benin around 9am today and landed
at Murtala Muhammed airport, hidden throughout in the undercarriage.
He was immediately arrested by airport security after passengers saw
him emerging from the aircraft tyre hole.
Arik spokesman Banji Ola explains what happened:
The management of Arik Air has expressed shock over the
incident wondering how the teenager beat the Aviation Security
personnel at the Benin Airport to get to the runway.
The pilot of Arik Air flight W3 544, departing Benin Airport for
Lagos at 9.00am today 24th August, 2013 reported to the control
tower the presence of a strange boy in the bush about 200 – 300
meters at the end of runway 23.
The control tower told the Captain that they were sending security
men to the place to arrest the boy.
As the captain was making his final turn, preparatory for take-off,
a cabin crew called his attention to the information by some of the
passengers that they saw a boy running towards the airplane.
The First Officer confirmed that they had observed it earlier and
alerted the control tower which responded that they have sent the
patrol team to arrest the boy. The Captain again reported to the
control tower and was informed that the situation was under
control and that he had been cleared for take-off.
On arrival at the domestic wing of MMA, Lagos, a teenage boy,
who apparently had sneaked into the aircraft main wheel well
jumped out and was arrested by Arik personnel and handed over
to FAAN security.
Meanwhile the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) blamed Arik
Air for the incident.
FAAN said in a statement:
"Arik Air acted with impunity by not stopping the aircraft to check
when the crew and ground personnel’s attention was drawn to an
abnormality on the tarmac. This is arrant display of impunity. The
aircraft should not have taxied further, but return to the apron
until a proper check is carried out on all parts of the aircraft.
FAAN will not tolerate such impunity henceforth from Arik or any
airline. Any violation would be met with applicable sanctions.
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