A Gambia national team star’s voice trembled as he recounted the harrowing flight ordeal that nearly derailed their 2023 AFCON journey.
Imagine hurtling through the sky, not towards the roar of a packed stadium, but towards the chilling silence of an oxygen mask. This was the reality for Gambia as their plane, bound for AFCON, plunged into a terrifying mid-air drama.
In an interview with FARPost, the player said that they feared for their lives after the plane taking them to the AFCON made an emergency landing due to a sudden loss of oxygen.
A chartered flight carrying ‘The Scorpions’; Gambia on Wednesday to the CAF tournament had to return to Gambia’s capital, Banjul, after flying for nine minutes. This is after the crew realised the technical problem.
The incident reportedly resulted in severe headaches and extreme dizziness, with people on board falling asleep within minutes of takeoff.
Fortunately, another flight to Ivory Coast was arranged, and the squad arrived at their base in Yamoussoukro on Thursday night. Gambia are in Group C alongside Cameroon, Guinea and Senegal. They begin their campaign on Monday, 15 January, against ‘The Lions of Teranga’.
GAMBIA NATIONAL TEAM PLAYERS SAFE FOLLOWING SCARY PLANE INCIDENT
“Everybody is fine now. We were supposed to fly on Wednesday, but because of the conditions, we could not fly that day. So we had to fly the following day on Thursday, but it was a terrible thing,” goalkeeper Modou Jobe told FARPost.
“After eight or nine minutes after we took off, the pilot realised that the oxygen cabin was not working. Everybody was sweating and struggling to breathe.
“So they announced that we had to do an emergency return, but we thank God that we managed to arrive here in time to avoid anything. But yeah, after that incident, our president interfered, and he had to call the president of Ivory Coast to get us a special flight that would pick us up from Gambia on Thursday,” he said.
“We thank God that everybody was safe and had no injuries. There were lots of worries and doubts, but we thank God for that. It was a difficult moment, something we will never forget in our lives. But we also thank our president of the country for making us fly safely and reach Ivory Coast to represent our country in the AFCON.”
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The West African country will be making their second appearance at the AFCON tournament. Their first was in 2021, when they finished in the quarter-finals.
“At the last AFCON we did well and this time we are coming for the second time. The team wants to rewrite history, and we want to go as far as possible because we have the qualities and the players to play with any country in the AFCON,” said the former Black Leopards player.
“We are not here to add numbers. We want to play and achieve our goals to reach the quarter-finals or semi-finals. With determination, the boys are ready to give their best. We are underdogs at the tournament as we are the lowest ranked, but that’s on paper.”
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