A young boy beats airline and airport securityat the Benin Airport and sneaked into the tyre compartment of a Lagos-bound Arik plane, where he flew safely to the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, on Saturday morning. There was, however, pandemonium at the airside of the Lagos airport when passengersdisembarking from the aircraft saw the teenager as he emerged from the undercarriage (aircraft tyre hole) to join fellow travellers. The adolescent stowaway, identified as Daniel Ihekina, was immediately arrested by security officials at the airport. The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria and Arik Air confirmed the incident. Although the General Manager, Corporate Communications, FAAN, Mr. Yakubu Dati, said full and urgent investigation had commencedinto the mysterious circumstances that led to the huge breach in airport and airline security, the situation has continued to beat the imagination of aviation authorities in the country. The situation, which has become a major source of worry among the authorities, has also led to a blame game between FAAN and Arik. FAAN, in a statement on Saturday, said it held “Arik Air liable for the circumstances leading to the stowaway of a teenage boy on its aircraft at the Benin Airport.” In a statement signed by Dati, FAAN, said, “Arik Air acted with impunity by not stoppingthe aircraft to check when the crew and ground personnel’s attention was drawn to an abnormality on the tarmac.” According to the FAAN spokesman, the procedure for such infraction is for the crew to abort the flight and return to the apron forcheck-up. He blamed the airline for the alleged impunity, warning that the airport authority would not tolerate such infraction from any operator. He said, “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. FAANwill not tolerate such impunity henceforth from Arik or any airline. Any violation would be met with applicable sanctions. Dati, however, said the teenager was already giving useful information to unravel this ‘misnomer.’ In a swift reaction, Arik, in a statement, blamed FAAN for the huge breach in security, noting that the incessant cases of security breaches at the nation’s airport had become a major source of concern to the airline. The statement quoted Arik’s Managing Director, Mr. Chris Ndulue, as saying, “We are worried by the incessant security lapses at our airports. We are appealing to the management of FAAN to immediately addressthe problem. “The management of Arik Air has expressed shock over the incident, wondering how the teenager beat the aviation security personnelat the Benin Airport to get to the runway.” Arik said its pilot had reported to the control tower the presence of a strange boy in the bush about 200 – 300 metres atthe end of runway before leaving the airport. Ndulue said the control tower had told its pilot that they were sending security men to the place to arrest the boy. Ndulue, however, said, “As the captain wasmaking 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 earlierand alerted the control tower which responded that they hadsent 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.” The Arik aircraft with registration number, 5N-MJG Flight 44, which left the Benin Airport around 9am for Lagos, was said to have on board top officials of the Edo StateGovernment.
Posted on: Mon, 26 Aug 2013 09:43:59 +0000
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