A United Airlines flight from Lagos to Washington experienced a harrowing emergency in the early hours of Friday, forcing the aircraft to turn back and return to Lagos. The flight, UA613, which was scheduled to travel from Murtala Muhammed International Airport to Washington D.C., had 245 passengers aboard, along with a crew of eight flight attendants and three pilots.
The emergency occurred while the plane was flying over the Ivory Coast airspace, about four hours into the flight. One of the passengers, who spoke to Saturday Vanguard on the condition of anonymity, described the terrifying sequence of events in vivid detail. The passenger noted that the flight took off at 11:50 pm without any initial issues, and passengers enjoyed a smooth ride until the flight approached Senegal.
“The flight took off at 11:50 pm. All through, we (passengers) did not experience any turbulence. We were flying well without any issue until we reached Senegal. At the time, it had been announced to us (passengers) that we could unfasten our seatbelts. The plane was on autopilot when it happened. We had also been served food and drinks.
“There were three pilots. The major one had gone to use the restroom and another took charge when we noticed a sudden drop. The impact of the drop resulted in my slamming my head against the plane’s roof. You can see in some of the pictures that I just showed you that there were blood stains on the plane’s roof.
“After hitting my head, I was unconscious for a while because one of the medical personnel on the plane was brave enough to assist me to regain awareness. When I regained consciousness, I saw that everyone was terrified. I heard people shouting ‘God of Chosen. God of Prophet Ebuka of Zion.’
“We were all frightened. One black flight attendant was so scared. In fact, there was a woman who wanted to use the restroom when the incident happened, she was badly injured. Three times, the plane dropped with force, and the pilot struggled to make the plane ascend.
This happened for 20 minutes, although we flew for about four hours. While this was happening, we were told by the pilot that navigation was lost. We were told so many things. However, the pilot was brave enough to successfully return us to Lagos.
“When we landed in Lagos, we were all taken to Ibis Hotel, Airport Road, Lagos, where the airline promised to communicate to us through the hotel’s reception. However, at 12:00 pm on Friday, nobody communicated anything to us. Therefore, I had to come down from my room, go to the reception where I saw other passengers.
