The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, has debunked rumours that an airplane operated by Dana Air crash landed at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos on Tuesday, saying it was a runway excursion.

NCAA described the occurrence which affected a McDonald Douglas (MD-83) with registration 5N-BKI as a serious incident, stressing that it was not an accident.

Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, NCAA, Mr Mike Achimugu, in a chat with Vanguard, also said officials of the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau, NSIB, were on ground to investigate the incident.

Achimugu said: “Even the images would prove that it was a runway excursion. It is called a ‘serious incident’ and not even an accident. There was no crash landing. The statutory agency for investigating incidents like this is the NSIB and they are on ground.”

An aviation management consultant, Mr Babatunde Adeniji, also said: “A runway incursion is when an aircraft or vehicle that should not be on the runway enters the runway. A runway excursion is when an aircraft veers off or overruns the runway. Today’s mishap was a runway excursion.

“We don’t speculate in aviation, we always wait for the investigators’ reports. But, remember the aircraft takes off and lands at an extremely high speed, so any small wrong turn or skid in the surface can catapult it anywhere.”