Several air passengers escaped death in Akure, Ondo State today, as cows took over the runway of the Akure Airport and prevented an Air Peace plane from landing.
It took the combined efforts of the airport security men other aviation staff to clear the runway of the cows before the aircraft registration number 5NBQQ to land more than 20 minutes after.
The pilot, Captain Williams Inyang was said to have contemplated a return to Lagos when it was taking longer than necessary for the runway to be cleared by the airport security.
Palpable fear had enveloped the passengers, who initially thought the pilot deliberately aborted landing, while the pilot had to hover close to 20 minutes.
However, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has apologized to Air Peace Airlines and its passengers for a runway incursion incident that prevented an Akure airport bound flight from landing for some minutes.
The Authority assured travellers and the general public that efforts are already ongoing to close the gap that aided this incident.
Today was not the first time a major airport runway was invaded by cows. The Port Harcourt International Airport runway was sometime ago invaded by cows and an approaching Air France plane collided with some of the cows. The expertise of the pilot saved what would have been a tragic incident as the plane was only slightly damaged with passengers suffering shock.
Also, on November 10, 2016, a fully-loaded plane of Air Peace had to abort landing at Sam Mbakwe Airport, Owerri, when the pilot discovered that the runway had been invaded by cows.