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11th January 2024
10:14am GMT
Gambia's Africa Cup of Nations squad were reportedly minutes from a serious incident while on their flight to Ivory Coast.
The players and staff were on the flight from their capital city of Banjul in preparation for the tournament however it was reported that a number of players passed out while on the flight.
According to the Daily Mail, the pilot was made to return to Banjul airport only 10 minutes after take off due to the low oxygen levels.
Former Manchester United defender Saidy Janko was one of those on board the aircraft and he posted to social media: "Unacceptable. After travelling 32 hours in total from Saudi Arabia (Training Camp) to The Gambia with long layovers in Istanbul and Casablanca, we were supposed to fly from Gambia to Ivory Coast for the AFCON today.
"As soon as we entered the small plane that was hired to fly us, we noticed the immense heat that left us dripping in sweat. It was assured to us by the crew that the air conditioning would start once we are in the sky.
"The inhumane heat mixed with the occurring lack of oxygen left many people with strong headaches and extreme dizziness. Furthermore, people started falling deeply asleep minutes after entering the aircraft/takeoff."
Tom Saintfiet, Gambia's head coach, told Nieuwsblad that he feared that they could've all died.
He said: "We could all have been dead. We all fell asleep quickly. Me, too. I had short dreams about how my life was done. Really and truly.
"We almost got carbon monoxide poisoning. Another half hour of flying and we would all have been dead."
Following the incident, the Gambian Football Federation released a statement saying: "The Chartered Flight carrying the Scorpions to the African cup of Nations has returned to Banjul due to technical problems.
The flight was nine minutes airborne when the crew realised and immediately requested to return to Banjul.
"Upon landing, preliminary investigations indicated that there was loss of cabin pressure and oxygen.“However, the technical team of the operating company of the flight, Air Cote d’Ivoire is further assessing the situation to establish what caused the lack of oxygen and cabin pressure."
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