Passengers on a Delta Air Lines flight from Lagos, Nigeria, to Atlanta faced an unexpected two-day delay last week when a small fire on board forced the plane to turn around.
Delta flight 55 took off from Lagos’s Murtala Muhammed International Airport (LOS) on September 23 without any issue. However, shortly after the Airbus A330-200’s departure, the crew received an indication of a “small-scale fire that was contained to one of the aircraft's galley ovens,” a Delta spokesperson said.
The issue was caused by food debris on one of the oven’s heating elements. As such, the crew decided not to use the onboard fire extinguishers because the fire was contained to the oven’s interior.
Pilots declared an emergency and diverted to Accra, Ghana. “As nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and crew, the flight crew followed procedures and safely diverted to the nearest international airport,” the airline said.
The plane landed safely at Accra’s Kotoka International Airport (ACC) about 90 minutes after takeoff and was cleared to taxi to the gate under its own power. None of the flight’s 188 passengers or 13 crew members were injured, and everyone deplaned normally.
Maintenance teams examined the plane and confirmed there was no damage to the aircraft itself. However, by the time the plane landed, the crew had exceeded their maximum working hours and could not take off again, Michael Achimugu, a communications director for Nigeria’s civil aviation authority, said in a statement on X.
Some of the passengers were put on Delta flights from Accra to New York that night, while others were given hotel accommodations arranged by the airline. Other customers flew out the next day on another Delta flight to New York.
The remaining 118 travelers were flown from Accra to Atlanta, two days later on September 25. “We apologize to our customers for the delay in their travel plans and we thank them for their patience,” Delta said.
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