Passengers are currently stranded at the Maiduguri International Airport, Borno State, after a Max Air aircraft developed a “technical fault” and could not take off to Abuja.

SaharaReporters learnt on Saturday from one of the passengers that the same aircraft developed fault on Friday but still flew to Abuja around 2pm.

The passengers feared that the aircraft was not fit enough to be flying after developing one fault after the other, while calling on the aviation authorities to wade into the matter.

“This is an accident of monumental national catastrophe waiting to happen. The earlier Max Air is checkmated from flying in the Nigerian airspace, the better it is to save innocent lives that may soon perish.

“On Friday, the aircraft that flew passengers out of Maiduguri around 2pm was reportedly faulty. The same aircraft today took passengers to Maiduguri and couldn’t take off back to Abuja, grounded because of technical fault again,” another passenger recounted.

“We are currently stranded the same way Abuja to Lagos passengers were left stranded for 6 hours on Friday. This is the grounded aircraft presently parked with stranded passengers at Maiduguri Airport,” a passenger confirmed to SaharaReporters.

SaharaReporters’ efforts to reach the Max Air for comments were not successful as of the time of filing this report.

SaharaReporters had also recently on November 22 reported how there was panic when a Dana flight taking off from Lagos to Abuja aborted take-off following a faulty engine, leaving many passengers stranded.

Passengers aboard the flight had said they heard a loud explosion when the aircraft was about to take off, prompting the Pilot-in-Command to abort take-off.

Many of the passengers are said to be stranded at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two (MMA2).

One of the passengers had said, “The Captain was trying to manage the situation but the report we had was that the plane lost its two engines. We had two explosions and the plane lost two engines. It was God that saved us; it would have been a big disaster.

“Up till now the plane cannot move, the passengers are stranded here. They are not making any effort, they are not moving. We have complained to NCAA, they did not do anything.

“It happened around after 11. The flight 9J335 was scheduled for 10:15. Up till now they have not done anything. They have not scheduled us, they are just keeping quiet. Nobody is talking to us, it is really a very pathetic case. We have made an official complaint to NCAA.”

Credit: Sahara Reporters