The conveyor belts at the newly opened terminal of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos on Sunday collapsed, causing chaos for passengers and other airport workers at the terminal.
Information gathered by Nairametrics indicated that the collapse of the new conveyor belts led to crisis for some of the foreign travellers who arrived in the country on Sunday and were delayed in retrieving their check-in luggage.
Passengers experiencing crisis
It was also learnt that the airside workers of the airport had a harrowing experience loading the bags of the passengers manually, thereby slowing down the process.
A source close to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), told our correspondent on Sunday that the management made frantic efforts at resolving the challenge, but was unable to rescue the situation as at the time of filing this report.
Belts breaking down at intervals
Our source alleged that the newly installed conveyor belts break down almost 30 minutes daily, especially during the peak period.
Early morning flights especially from the West Coast and Europe to the airport were affected by the disruption.
The source also told our correspondent that it was not the first time the terminal, which was fully opened for operations in September would experience such collapse in recent weeks.
- One of the affected passengers who didn’t want his name in print said: “There’s is a serious crisis here, please come to our rescue. The belt we are told to use is also epileptic. We need urgent attention on the situation of this belt, please.”
When contacted for comment on the issue, Mr. Abdullahi Funtua, the Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, FAAN, could not be reached for comments as he didn’t respond to a phone call made to his phone at the time of this report.
