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The Gambia football team narrowly escaped death in a scary incident after a technical fault while travelling to the Africa Cup of Nations. The team was travelling to Ivory Coast for the tournament and they overcame some challenging issues. The squad was just minutes into their flight when the pilot of their charter plane announced an emergency landing. The plane faced some issues and hence, it was forced to turn around and make an emergency landing.
Not only this, but the oxygen supply on the plane dropped significantly, and the passengers were forced to sit in stiflingly hot conditions. Former Manchester United player Saidy Janko shared a video of the players and said that the players faced dizziness and strong headaches, while many of them fell unconscious. Not only this, but the Gambia team coach Tom Saintfiet opened up about the situation and said that they had almost died.
Saintifiet told Nieuwsblad as quoted by Mirror, “We all fell asleep quickly. Me, too. I had short dreams about how my life was done – really and truly. After nine minutes the pilot decided to return because there was no oxygen supply. Some players did not wake up [until] immediately after landing. We almost got carbon monoxide poisoning. Another half hour of flying and we would all have been dead.”
Janko opened up on the incident and said, “Unacceptable. After travelling 32 hours in total from Saudi Arabia (Training Camp) to The Gambia with long layovers in Istanbul and Casablanca, we were supposed to fly from Gambia to Ivory Coast for the AFCON today. As soon as we entered the small plane that was hired to fly us, we noticed the immense heat that left us dripping in sweat.” He added, “If it wasn't for this, the consequences could have been a lot worse!!! Knowing what could have happened, if we would have been exposed to the situation for any longer - in an aeroplane, running out of oxygen.”
The Gambian Football Federation released a statement that read, “The Gambia Football Federation (GFF) regrets to inform the general public that the Chartered Flight carrying the Scorpions to the African Cup of Nations has returned to Banjul due to technical problems. The flight was nine minutes airborne when the crew realised and immediately requested to return to Banjul.”
