Flights grounded at Akure Airport as crater is found on runway

By BOLA-OLU ESHO

Flights have been grounded in Akure Airport, Ondo State capital, over sudden appearance of crater on the runway at the airport.

Sources revealed that a crater was dug by suspected miscreants on the runway which has forced the port authority to close the runway preventing flight from taking off or landing in the airport.

When Daily Independent and a few journalists in the state visited the airport, Mrs. Joke Olatunji, the Airport Manager, said she was not authorised to speak to newsmen.

She neither denied nor confirmed the development, but Daily Independent investigation revealed that the airport has shut down for operation as a result of the deep hole dug on the runway.

It was further revealed that the port authority discovered the crater overnight and subsequently closed the runway.

There were no operational activities in the airport, though it could not be ascertained whether it’s the closure of the runway that was responsible or the ongoing raging protests and destruction of public and private facilities across the country.

Spokesperson of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria(FAAN), Henrietta Yakubu, stated that there were cracks discovered on the runway during the routine checks on Monday morning.

She claimed that the cracks had not affected flight operations in the airport.

Henrietta, however, disclosed that repair works had commenced on the cracked portions on the runway. (Daily Independent)