Max Air, bound for Abuja made an emergency landing back at Muhammadu Buhari International Airport Maiduguri, on Wednesday after its engine damaged following a suspected bird strike, officials reported.

Borno State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Umar Usman Kadafur, was among the over 100 passengers that escaped death, and successfully landed in the airport.

Daily Trust gathered that the incident occured 10 minutes after the plane took off from the airport.

The airline official, who is not in position to speak, said another plane was deployed from Lagos that conveyed the passengers to Abuja.

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“About 10 minutes after the take off, the Aircraft hit a bird in the sky, which led to one of the engines to be severely damaged. Engineers were deployed from Kano, now working on the aircraft,” he said.

When contacted, the Manager of Max Air in Maiduguri, Mr Musa Bawuro, said he was aware of the incident, but could not comment until he got details of what actually transpired.

“Please give me time to find out from the captain,” he said.