- There were vibrations at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos on Sunday, April 9
- Passengers who were terrified over the incident said the vibrations occurred at about 3 am at the airport
- However, the minister of state for aviation Hadi Sirika said the incident was not close to an earthquake
- The minister said the vibrations occurred as a result of some unlatched doors within the airport
The minister said the vibrations occurred as a result of some unlatched doors within the airport
There were vibrations at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos on Sunday, April 9.
Passengers who were terrified over the incident said the vibrations occurred at about 3 am at the airport, Punch reports.
NAIJ.com gathered that while some of these passengers attributed the incident to tremors, the minister of state for aviation Hadi Sirika said the vibrations were not close to earthquake.
The minister also denied reports that the vibrations affected the structural integrity of the airport.
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A statement issued by the general manager corporate affairs of the Federal Airports Authority Henrietta Yakubu, Siirika said the doors of the airport was not latched well and the vibrations were directly under the counter of Royal Air Maroc.
Sirika said: “It is wrong and erroneous to say that the structure of the Murtala Mohammed Airport is failing and there was an earthquake as reported by some sections of the media; it is not so."
"What happened was that there were vibrations at the air handling room of the cooling system; this door is a huge metal door that needed to be locked properly; it was locked but wasn’t latched properly; the latches were not in place and that gave rise to the vibrations because there are moving parts within the system.
“There are motors and fans and other things activated to create the necessary cooling system. That door responded to the vibration and because it wasn’t latched, it was vibrating and that vibration was directly under the counter of Royal Air Maroc and people assumed the structure was vibrating to the point of collapse," the minister concluded.
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He also said that some airport officials were alerted and the were able to latch the doors after the cause of the incident was discovered.
He further noted that the engineers working at the airport were working on the chillers to make passengers feel more comfortable at the airport.
Recall that the last tremor occurred in September 2016, in Kwoi, Kaduna state.
Although the National Emergency Management Agency had said that 300 houses were affected during the tremor the federal and the state government said it had taken steps to ensure safety of residents in the area.
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