How priority landing saved 33 aboard after Medview plane loses pressure

By Samson Echenim

The lives of 27 passengers and six crew onboard Medview Airline’s Boeing 737-500 flight VL2105 on Tuesday were at risk but for priority landing demanded by the pilot and which was obliged by airport control, it has now emerged.

The airline spoke on the incident which happened on Tuesday at 3.10pm local time, in which the aircraft with registration marks 5N-BQM, lost pressure and saw the crew pulling down the oxygen masks.

The airline said the plane  was on its way to Lagos about 1510 hours on Tuesday when the “captain noticed a warning sign of cabin depressurisation while descending from 32000ft altitude,” adding that the captain handled the incident in the best professional manner.

“The captain quickly briefed the passengers and he referred to his checklist and applied the necessary procedure to mitigate the situation. The oxygen masks dropped and were in good working condition for the passengers’ usage. The captain called for priority landing because he had been on number seven on queue and he was obliged. He made a safe landing and the passengers were calm as it did not pose a serious danger,” the airline said in a statement signed by Michael Ajigbotoso, its chief operating officer.

“The situation was professionally handled according to required operational standard procedures and the incident was promptly reported to the authority and investigation is ongoing,” he added.

The Accident Investigation Bureau(AIB) Nigeria Wednesday said it was investigating a Medview Airline flight by Boeing 737-500 with registration marks 5N-BQM involved “in a serious incident” en-route Lagos from Abuja on the  July 23, at about 3:07pm local time with 27 passengers and six crew members on board.