A Middle East Airlines (MEA) Airbus A330-200 has damaged a Turkish Airlines Boeing 777-300ER, following a ground strike. The incident occurred in Lagos, Nigeria on 29th July.
Ground staff, who were on duty at the time, said that the incident occurred whilst the MEA A330-200, registered OD-MEA, was being pushed back from the gate. It remains unknown exactly how it unfolded, but early reports suggest that ground staff turned the A330 too early; thus resulting in the collision with the Turkish B777-300/ER (registered TC-LJC).
One airport worker disagreed however, saying that the MEA pilots were not aware of their surroundings. They said that, at the time, the pilots were in direct contact with the ground staff. This employee said that it was caused by negligence from the MEA pilots.
Following the incident, many reported a large uproar on the ground. Initial scenes were those of confusion and blame. Furthermore, some ground staff suggested that both MEA and Turkish Airlines were carrying out commercial flights disguised as repatriation flights.
This is the last thing they need during COVID! So much extra costs.
Would like to see more once they are shared. Hopefully you put them up here as well, Sam. Cheers!
Won’t be surprised if they were both truly commercial flights under the guise of repatriation.
I don’t know about MEA but the Turkish airlines plane was carrying cargo (even in the passenger cabin) and not passengers. The flight even operated under the flight number TK6109 which is only used for cargo flights, repatriation flights carried out by TK usually have a flight number that starts with TK4XXX.
I truly think that it’s the ground crew’s fault and they just want someone to blame.
Hello
I have a lot more photos and the video of the incident I’m happy to pass it on to you for free
You can share by email to editor@samchui.com