Gambia squad escapes tragedy en route AFCON as plane suffers ‘oxygen shortage’

Tom Saintfiet, head coach of the Scorpions of Gambia, said the team endured a “deadly situation” after the plane conveying them to the forthcoming African Cup of Nations (AFCON) suffered oxygen shortage mid-air. 

According to BBC, Saintfiet said the plane’s pilot saved the lives of everyone on board by turning around to Banjul, Gambia’s capital, just minutes after taking off on Wednesday.

The Gambia national team had boarded an Air Cote d’Ivoire flight in Banjul heading to Yamoussoukro for the AFCON billed to kick off on Saturday.

The team’s head coach claimed that the crew members said the plane had “a problem with the air conditioning” upon take-off, and the air became “very hot” while the flight was in the sky.

He said there was “a lack of oxygen” and “some of the players couldn’t be woken up”.

Saintfet added that “if the flight had gone on for another 30 minutes, the whole team would have died”.

“The local crew said there was a problem with the air conditioning before we took off but that it would be all fine when we took off,” the coach said.

“After a few minutes, it was very hot in the plane.

“We all fell asleep because there was a lack of oxygen – some of the players couldn’t be woken up. The pilot noticed, and we had to return.

“People got headaches, and if the flight had gone on for another 30 minutes, the whole team would have died. The strange thing is that the oxygen masks didn’t come out – it’s good that the pilot realised that this was a deadly situation and so turned back.

“But we are still in shock.”

On its part, Air Cote d’Ivoire, the official airliner of the AFCON, said the crew decided to turn back because of a pressurisation problem.

The company added that a mechanic could have resolved the issue on the ground, but the flight was cancelled because of work toil on its crew members.

Upon returning to Gambia, the Scorpions trained on Wednesday despite some members of the squad not participating due to dizziness and fatigue.

In a rearranged itinerary, the team is expected to leave Banjul for Yamoussoukro on Thursday evening.

The Scorpions are in Group C alongside Senegal, Cameroon and Guinea. They are scheduled to face Senegal on Monday in their first game of the competition.