Malik Yahya/
The runway of the Ilorin International Airport has been closed to traffic, after an Air Peace aircraft crash landed yesterday.
NewsmakersNG learnt that many passengers, including some highly-placed Nigerians, narrowly escaped death in the incident.
Air Peace began operation from Ilorin Airport on June 16.
The aircraft, which left from Abuja, reportedly crash landed at about 9.30am.
It was gathered the impact of the crash resulted in a tyre burst and made it impossible for the plane to taxi to the tarmac.
But all the traumatised passengers were successfully evacuated from the runway.
It was learnt that the process of moving the plane from the runway was slow because it is a big aircraft for which the airport has no equipment.
Spokesperson for Air Peace, Stanley Olise, in a statement today confirmed there was an incident involving an aircraft in its fleet.
He however debunked reports that its plane crashed at the airport.
“Our aircraft neither crashed nor crash-landed in Ilorin or in any place for that matter,” the statement partly reads.
“Air Peace is committed to providing peaceful connectivity across cities and relentlessly observes the highest standards of safety in its operations,” it adds.
Also, the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) confirmed that the incident occurred but said it was not a plane crash.
AIB General Manager, Public Affairs, Tunji Oketumbi, reportedly said that investigators evaluated the incident and won’t be investigating it.
“Yes. It happened yesterday. AIB Safety investigators did an evaluation of the occurrence and decided not to investigate. The aeroplane has been released to the operator (Airpeace). The delay in opening the airport is down to the recovery of the aeroplane from the runway by FAAN (Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria) and Airpeace. The aeroplane had a burst tyre on landing,” Oketumbi said.
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