A pilot on a Nigerian airline landed a plane in a city nearly 200 miles away from intended destination, Local news outlet The Cable reported on Saturday. It said United Nigera Airline which is a private airline was operating a domestic flight from Lagos to Abuja but the flight ended in Asaba about 198 miles south of the capital city which is comparable to a flight headed for New York city landing in Washington DC.

Salihu Tanko Yankassai, a local politician and a passenger on board wrote in a post on X on Saturday that flight attendants initially announced that they had landed in Abuja which is the correct destination.

“we departed Lagos about an hour ago on @flyunitedng to Abuja, and upon arrival, the cabin crew confidently announced that we’ve arrived Abuja, only for us to realize that we landed in Asaba. Apparently, our pilot was given wrong flight plan from Lagos’. He wrote.

Passengers were confused about the landing until an announcement was made. people were thinking that there’s something were not being told. until the pilot announced to us that he received a wrong flight plan, that’s when calmness was restored.”

United Nigeria Airlines apologized for the incident in the statement posted on X on Sunday. the Airline said the Pilot had intentionally diverted the flight due to poor weather conditions in Abuja and was briefed beforehand.

”However, a wrong announcement was made by cabin crew upon landing safely in Asaba, creating confusion among the passengers” The airline added that the flight had continued its journey and landed in Abuja.

Similar incidents have occurred over the years. In 2014, a Souithwest Airline flight arrived at an airport seven miles away from its intended destination in Mousouri. In 2019, a British airways flight bound for Dusseldof, Germany mistakenly landed in Edinburgh, Scotland after the airline filed the wrong flight plan.

credits: BUSINESS INSIDER