The Plane Prepped for Takeoff. Then, a Man From the Bushes

Passengers on Azman Air flight in Nigeria filled with 'fear and panic' as man climbs onto wing
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 22, 2019 11:35 AM CDT
Updated Jul 27, 2019 7:00 AM CDT

"Fear and panic" is how Africanews describes the mood in the cabin of an Azman Air flight in Nigeria on Friday, though the odd happening ended with no one getting hurt. CNN reports the incident took place in the domestic section of Murtala Muhammed International airport in the nation's capital of Lagos, as the plane headed for Port Harcourt taxied on the runway before takeoff Friday morning. As the plane prepared to take to the skies, an unidentified man suddenly emerged from the bushes, per one passenger, and approached the slowly moving aircraft, the airline said in a statement. It notes the pilot stopped the plane and turned off the engine, at which point the man's behavior became more bizarre.

"The guy approaches the plane with gloves and starts walking around and under the aircraft holding a bag which he dropped inside the engine," a prominent African entrepreneur on the plane posted on Instagram, along with a video that shows the intruder then perched on the wing of the plane after climbing up; a YouTube video shows the man emerging from one of the plane's engines at one point. The pilot radioed for help, and the man was arrested and taken into custody. "I still have a million and one questions to ask cos anything could have gone wrong!" the passenger noted in his post. The country's Federal Airports Authority says it's investigating. (More strange stuff stories.)

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