It was a tense 37 minutes of fear for passengers on an Azman Air airplane when a man bolted onto the tarmac and jumped on the wing of the aircraft as it waited to take off.
The frightening scene took place Friday at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria.
The incident was captured in near-real-time by a passenger who uploaded it on Instagram.
Others posted on YouTube.
Passenger Otto Orondaam put a story up on his Instagram with the video, saying “Guys this is an emmergency o (sic). For 30 minutes we have been stuck at the runway at MMIA by an unidentified man who ran to the aircraft with a bag. Security has not showed up and everyone is panicking. I have so many questions to ask but right now I can’t even breathe. Pls share this to all relevant authorities.”
Orondaam reported that the flight to Port Harcourt was taxiing for takeoff when the unidentified man came running out of some nearby bushes toward the plane. The pilot spotted him and immediately slowed down and cut the engines.
The man approached the plane with gloves and a bag, which he dropped inside one of the engines before climbing up on one of the engine casings near the wing.
Orondaam’s initial Instagram plea to alert authorities was due to a delay in handling the situation. Officials from the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria arrived on the scene 23 minutes after the man approached the plane, but were reluctant to approach him. Fourteen minutes later, security officials arrived and apprehended the man.
“Thanks to the Pilot of the Azman Airline for quickly observing and taking swift action,” Orondaam wrote. “I still have a million and one questions to ask cos anything could have gone wrong! Nigeria will work perfectly someday. This I know.”
Passengers were told to disembark the plane to be screened at security again before taking off for Port Harcourt.
