All the 50 passengers already boarded a Dana Aircraft in Port Harcourt escaped death during the holidays as the aircraft, scheduled to fly to Lagos, caught fire just before takeoff.

Before the incident, airline operators had reportedly told the passengers that their flight would be delayed due to bad weather.

But according to the passengers, the operators only tried to resolve some undisclosed technical problems which possibly resulted in the fire.

However, no life was lost as fire service operatives at the airport responded swiftly according to sources.

In a statement, entitled: Press statement on Port Harcourt Incident of 2/5/22, on Tuesday morning, Dana Air spokesman, Kingsley Ezenwa, said the aircraft had been grounded pending the conclusion of their investigations.

“Our aircraft with registration number 5N JOY operating flight 9J 344 from Port Harcourt to Lagos on 2nd of May 2022, was set to take off when the pilot in command noticed an anomaly which he queried with the Air Traffic Control before embarking on a ramp return in line with our strict safety operating procedures

“However, the impact on the brakes as a result of the aborted take off affected the aircraft tyres which sparked off while the aircraft was taxiing to repark.

“All 50 passengers onboard the aircraft disembarked safely and our maintenance team have immediately grounded the aircraft pending the conclusion of their investigations. Once again, we sincerely apologize to all the passengers on the flight for the inconveniences caused due to the eventual cancellation of the flight.”