Vibrations rock Lagos international airport

 Murtala Muhammed International Airport , Lagos
on Sunday experienced vibrations , which left many
passengers terrified .
The vibrations were said to have occurred at about
3am and people present at the airport at the time
attributed the incident to tremors.
The Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi
Sirika, however, said the vibrations were not in any
way a structural issue or an earthquake but the
result of unlatched doors where the coolers, which
had just been put into use, were housed .
The minister, who came in from Abuja on Sunday
evening, said the rumour that the vibrations had
affected the structural integrity of the airport was
untrue and misleading .
Sirika was quoted in a statement issued by the Acting
General Manager, Corporate Affairs , Federal Airports
Authority of Nigeria , Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, as
saying that the doors were not well -latched and the
vibrations were directly under the counter of Royal
Air Maroc, which led to the assumption that
something had gone wrong.
The minister said , “ It is wrong and erroneous to say
that the structure of the Murtala Muhammed Airport
is failing and there was an earthquake as reported by
some sections of the media; it is not so . What
happened was that there were vibrations at the air
handling room of the cooling system; this door is a
huge metal door that needed to be locked properly; it
was locked but wasn ’ t latched properly; the latches
were not in place and that gave rise to the vibrations
because there are moving parts within the system.
“ There are motors and fans and other things
activated to create the necessary cooling system. That
door responded to the vibration and because it
wasn ’ t latched, it was vibrating and that vibration
was directly under the counter of Royal Air Maroc
and people assumed the structure was vibrating to
the point of collapse .”
He said airport officials were alerted and the door
was latched after it was discovered.
The minister said that the engineering department
was also working on the chillers to make passengers
more comfortable .