Farmers in the Abuja area have reportedly recovered a missing aircraft door after a CL60 business jet operated by Triton Aviation made an emergency landing at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport on Thursday.
The incident occurred shortly after the aircraft, with registration number T7-SEI and flight identification DWC052, departed Abuja for the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos.
According to an incident report obtained by our correspondent, the aircraft took off from Runway 22 at approximately 4:17 p.m. UTC. About three nautical miles from the airport, while climbing through 3,000 feet, the crew reportedly discovered that a door had opened in flight.
The crew subsequently issued a distress call, declaring “Mayday” three times and notifying air traffic controllers of the emergency.
Following the alert, the approach radar controller instructed the aircraft to return to Abuja for an emergency landing. Airport fire and rescue personnel, emergency responders and medical teams were immediately placed on standby.
At about 4:29 p.m. UTC, the crew reportedly asked air traffic controllers whether they could visually confirm the condition of the door. However, the duty controller, who attempted to observe the aircraft with binoculars, could not determine whether the door was open because of the aircraft’s position.
The aircraft eventually landed safely on Runway 22 at approximately 4:34 p.m. UTC, about 14 minutes after the Mayday call.
After landing, the duty air traffic controller observed that the door was missing from the aircraft’s fuselage. The jet was subsequently guided to the international apron extension and parked with the assistance of a marshaller.
Meanwhile, a video obtained by Akelicious showed what was reportedly the missing aircraft door recovered by farmers from a farm in the Abuja area.
In the video, a man whose identity could not be independently established said the farmers found the object while returning from their farm. He explained that they believed it had fallen from an aircraft but did not know further details about its identity.
The number of passengers on board the aircraft at the time of the incident had not been confirmed as of the time of filing this report.
The Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Michael Achimugu, confirmed the incident but declined to comment further, stating that the matter fell within the jurisdiction of the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB).
Although the NSIB had yet to issue an official statement, a reliable source within the agency confirmed the seriousness of the incident and disclosed that investigators had been deployed.
The source added that the bureau’s management would release an official statement in due course.
Triton Aviation, the operator of the aircraft, could not be reached for comments as of the time of filing this report.
The circumstances surrounding the loss of the aircraft door and the cause of the incident are expected to be established through the investigation.
