Panic broke out at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on Thursday when a Triton Aviation CL60 aircraft lost a door mid-air shortly after take-off.
The Lagos-bound flight, bearing registration number T7-SEI and flight ID DWC052, was forced to declare an emergency around 4:20 pm.
After taking off from Runway 22, the crew sent out a urgent distress call—“Mayday, Mayday, Mayday”—as the jet climbed through 3,000 feet just three nautical miles out.
Air traffic controllers immediately directed the pilot back to Abuja and placed airport fire, rescue, and medical teams on high alert.
During the return flight, the crew asked controllers if they could visually confirm whether the door was open.
“The duty air traffic controller attempted to observe the aircraft using binoculars, but could not establish the door’s condition because of the aircraft’s position,” the incident report revealed.
The flight managed to land safely on Runway 22 at approximately 4:34 pm UTC, roughly 14 minutes after sending the distress call.
Upon landing, the controller confirmed the severity of the scare, noticing that the door was completely missing from the fuselage.
