Barely 48 hours after a plane crash-landed at the nation’s capital Abuja on Sunday, a ValueJet CRJ 900 Bombardier plane has skidded off the runway after landing at the Port Harcourt International Airport in the capital of Rivers State.
The aircraft, which touched down in Port Harcourt at 3.32pm on Tuesday, with 62 passengers and five crew members, reportedly overshot the runway.
However, the aircraft with registration 5N-BXR landed safely and the accident inflicted no damages to the aircraft.
The accident comes after the one on Sunday morning, involving a Boeing 733, owned by Aero Contractors and registered as 5N-BYQ that landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.
It was taxiing on Runway A4 when its nose wheel got stuck to the ground.
The Aero Contractors’ incident caused the temporary shutting of the airport.
According to Managing Director of ValueJet, Captain Dapo Majekodunmi, the plane’s Captain Stanley Balami said the slip came from algae growing on the taxiway at the Port-Harcourt airport.
The algae prevented the aircraft from maintaining a firm foothold on the runway, causing it to slip beyond the tarmac’s borderline.
Majekodunmi assured the public of ValueJet’s commitment to safety.
Furthermore, he said that the accident would not disrupt the operations of the airline’s schedule.