Door Falls Off Nigeria's Dana Air Flight

Nigerian airline Dana Air says a passenger was responsible for one of its aircraft doors falling off shortly after landing, despite witnesses on board claiming otherwise. 

The flight, which had just landed in Abuja, was taxiing on the runway when the emergency exit door fell away. Dana Air denied any mechanical problems with the flight, issuing a statement saying the design of the door makes it impossible to remove without being tampered by a crew member or passenger. 

”We wish to state categorically that this could never have happened without a conscious effort by a passenger to open it.”

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

“We also wish to enlighten the author that, when an aircraft is airborne, it is fully pressurized and there was no way the seat or door could have been ‘shaking’ as insinuated.”

An inspection of the aircraft was made once the plane landed in Abuja, Dana Air said. 

“A thorough inspection was however carried out on the said aircraft upon landing in Abuja, by our engineers and a team from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), and no issue was reported. There was also no threat to safety at any point.”

However, passengers told the BBC that everyone on board denied messing with the emergency exit door and that the flight had been particularly noisy. 

Dapo Sanwo, from Lagos, said: "The flight was noisy with vibrations from the floor panel. I noticed the emergency door latch was loose and dangling."

"When we landed and the plane was taxiing back to the park point, we heard a poof-like explosion, followed by a surge of breeze and noise. It was terrible."

"The cabin crew tried to say a passenger pulled the hatch which everyone denied. They also tried to get us to stop taking videos or pictures."

Another passenger, Ola Brown, 

Dana Air's license to operate was suspended in 2012 after a crash in a busy Lagos neighborhood killed 153 people.