By By Micheal Chukwuebuka
THIRTY-EIGHT people were injured, six of them were taken to the hospital, after a United Airlines flight from Nigeria to Washington, D.C., experienced problems midair.
Although the nature of the emergency, as of the time of filing this report, wasn’t entirely clear, but a video of the aftermath of the incident shows the passenger cabin of the Boeing 787-8 in disarray.
The United flight, according to the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, departed from Lagos at 11:59 p.m. Thursday and returned to Murtala Muhammed International Airport at 3:22 a.m. Friday, following an emergency “hours” after takeoff.
United Airlines said in a statement Saturday that flight 613 with 245 passengers, eight crew members, and three pilots returned safely to Lagos following “a technical issue and an unexpected aircraft movement.”
The airline described the six people hospitalized as four passengers and two flight attendants who suffered minor injuries.
Nigeria’s airports authority said in its own statement that the six suffered “serious” injuries and were stabilized at area medical facilities before being taken to Duchess Hospital in Ikeja.
An additional 27 passengers and five crew members, according to the agency, suffered minor injuries and were given first aid before being released “immediately.”
The Nigerian airports authority said on X that its medical team, “led by a very senior management staff,” was aware of the situation and staged ahead of the flight’s return:
“The medical team were in direct communication with the pilot prior to the aircraft’s landing in Lagos.”
The aircraft did not sustain major damage, the airports authority said. The plane spent 3 hours, 36 minutes in flight, according to travel tracker FlightAware.
United said it was working with authorities in Nigeria and the United States to help find out what happened.
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