This year’s Africa Cup of Nations hasn’t even started yet and it could already be marked by a huge tragedy. The plane with the Gambia national team headed for the tournament in Ivory Coast experienced a sudden drop in oxygen levels and many players fainted. Two footballers from the Czech league are also in the selection – Spartan James Gomez and Muhammed Sanneh from Baník Ostrava.
Just nine minutes after takeoff, the pilot was forced to return to Banjul Airport for an emergency landing. The oxygen supply failed in the plane, its supplies ran out very quickly and the passengers began to lose consciousness one by one.
Former Manchester United player Saidy Janko said in a post on Instagram that some on board suffered from “severe headaches and extreme dizziness.” At the same time, he criticized the representatives of his country for the “unacceptable” situation.
“We could have all been dead. We all fell fast asleep. Me too. I had short dreams about how my life was going. Really,” Gambia’s Belgium coach Tom Saintfiet described. He also drew attention to the fact that some of the football players did not regain consciousness until the time when the plane made an emergency landing.
“We almost got carbon monoxide poisoning. Another half hour flight and we’d all be dead.”
The team must travel to Ivory Coast on Thursday or risk elimination from the tournament. Gambia’s first match will be against Senegal on Monday. “Now we are back and we refuse to fly such a plane. It was probably the smallest that had a propeller, with a capacity for 50 people. As if the only thing that mattered was that it flew,” added the coach.
2024-01-12 13:59:54
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