IN SHORT: Social media posts have claimed that a plane had to make an emergency landing. But this is not true, according to the operator of the flight.
The claim has been made on Facebook in Nigeria that a United Nigeria plane flying from Ebonyi state to Lagos state crash-landed “inside bush”.
The claim appears on Facebook here, here, here, here and here.
The posts include a photo of what looks like the front of a small aeroplane landed in a field, with people standing around.
They read: “Lagos-bound Passengers Land Inside Bush After Taking Off From New Ebonyi State International Airport.”
Lagos is in the southwest of Nigeria, while Ebonyi is in the southeast.
Many social media users reacted sympathetically to the post.
United Nigeria is a private airline which began operations in 2021.
But did one of their planes crash en-route from Ebonyi to Lagos? We checked.
Aircraft landed safely off runway at Lagos airport
The airline said in a statement on 31 May that flight 5N-BWW from Abakaliki, the capital of Ebonyi state, landed safely at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos but skidded off the runway. Fifty passengers were on board.
“The aircraft landed safely but was forced to terminate its movement to the apron off the runway,” the airline said.
It added that all passengers disembarked safely with their baggage.
A video shared by News Direct on Facebook shows the plane landed at the Lagos local airport, not in the bush, as the posts claim.
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