Two different Kenyan aeroplanes with about 100 Nigerians on board,
suffered what pilots and airline officials described as “engine failure”
on Sunday.
One of the stranded Nigerian passengers – which includes 30 members
of the famous Dantata family, women and children – spoke with our
friends at TheCable early on Monday morning, said the first plane was
scheduled to leave Nairobi on Sunday at 7:50 am, but the officials
shifted the flight to 11:05 am “because of an operational problem” that
was to be sorted out “soon”.
Speaking further, she said, “We all boarded at about 12 noon. The
aeroplane was already on full speed on the runway and was about to take
off when we heard a noise, so the pilot just slowed down.
“People seated by the window side said they saw smoke oozing out, and
fire service officials came over. There was an announcement that the
plane had a problem and the flight could not proceed. They had to check
us into the country. “Kenyan Airways had to pay for our visas. A lot of
people were angry, but the airline officials asked us if we would have
preferred to die while airborne rather than their admittance that there
was a problem.
