Exit door falls off Nigerian domestic airline during Lagos-Abuja flight

A Nigerian domestic flight caused a scare on Wednesday when its exit door fell off while taxiing at the Abuja airport after landing.

The Dana Air incident left passengers in panic as many shared videos and images on social media accusing the airline and Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority of gross negligence.

A passenger, Ola Brown, posted a photo on Twitter saying: “Flew Dana. Exit door was unstable throughout the flight. As we touched down it fell off. Scary stuff.”

“It was really terrible. It was like traveling with a molue in the early 90s. Dana Air needs to carry out a comprehensive audit of her fleet and the maintenance status. If that hatch had opened mid air. We’d have lost cabin pressure, oxygen and surely have gone down. #terrible,” another passenger Dapo Sanwo tweeted.

Dana Air denied there were issues with the door in a statement blaming the passengers for tampering with the door.

“The emergency exit door of our aircraft are plug-type backed by pressure, which ordinarily cannot fall off without tampering or a conscious effort to open by a crew member or passenger.

“When an aircraft is airborne, it is fully pressurised and there was no way the seat or door could have been shaking as insinuated,” the company said.

Dapo Sanwo later told the BBC that everyone on board had denied tampering with the door.

The president of the Nigerian Senate Saraki Bukola said the they will take the matter up in the senate and “it must not happen again”.