There was pandemonium at the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) yesterday following a gun was said to have accidental gone off.
Two people were injured in the incident when a man identified as an orderly of a senator accidentally fired the shots as he was trying to remove the magazine, injuring him and one woman, Daily Trust gathered.
The incident also caused panic within the terminal as travelers and airport workers scampered for safety on hearing the gunshots. It was gathered that the security man was to travel on Arik Air and he wanted to dislodge the magazine from the gun in line with standard practice in air travel but incidentally the gun released its bullet which hit the woman in the leg.
“It is a standard practice in air travel for anyone with a gun to pull out the bullet. This is what the security man was trying to do but incidentally the gun released the magazine which splattered and hit him and the woman on the leg as he bent down to pull out the magazine from the gun,” one witness said.
They however, trekked out of the terminal to the vehicle that conveyed them to the hospital without any assistance.
General Manager, Public Affairs of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr. Yakubu Dati, confirmed the incident and said what transpired was an accident which occurred while the man was trying to remove the magazine as a standard procedure because guns are not allowed on-board aircraft but they are usually checked in, in the luggage compartment.
Dati, who described the incident as minor, assured travelers that all the airports are safe and secure.
