A plane carrying Nigeria’s football team was forced to make a emergency landing after suffering a cracked windscreen as they travelled to a crunch World Cup qualifier.
The Super Eagles had been travelling home from Polokwane in South Africa, where they had earned a 2-1 victory over Lesotho on Friday.
A chartered ValueJet Airline aircraft, which had been used to take the team to South Africa last week, was used again for the return journey.
The Nigerian Football Federation stated that the aircraft stopped in Angola’s capital Luanda for routine refuelling.
In a statement, the federation confirmed the aircraft’s windscreen suffered a ‘heavy crack’ in mid-air.
This led to the pilots needing to make an emergency landing 25 minutes into the flight, with the plane landed safely back at the airport in Luanda.
A plane carrying Nigeria’s squad was required to make an emergency landing in Angola
The aircraft suffered a cracked windscreen shortly after taking off in Luanda, Angola
The federation confirmed the incident has delayed the arrival of Nigeria’s players and officials to Uyo, where they are due to face Benin in a World Cup qualifier on Tuesday.
Government officials, including the president’s chief of staff, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Aviation, are working to secure permission to fly another aircraft from Lagos to collect the team and fly them to Uyo.
Nigeria’s squad includes five Premier League stars in Calvin Bassey, Samuel Chukwueze, Alex Iwobi of Fulham, Brentford’s Frank Onyeka and Tolu Arokodare of Wolves.
Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman are among other star names hoping to fire the nation to their seventh World Cup.
Nigeria are currently third in their group following their 2-1 win over Lesotho on Friday.
Nigeria are three points behind Benin in the group standings, with the Super Eagles needing to win to keep their automatic qualification hopes alive.
South Africa currently occupy second place in the group, one point ahead of Nigeria, which could be enough advance to play-offs.
