A team set to compete at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations reportedly suffered a near-death experience while travelling to Ivory Coast for the tournament.
Members of Gambia's national team were travelling from the country's capital, Banjul, and as soon as the players boarded the airplane, they began to suffer from "inhumane" heat.
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It has been revealed that some players consequently fell asleep while others began to feel dizzy. The situation is said to have escalated once the plane took off, with the players running out of oxygen.
The pilot was reportedly left with no other option and turned the plane around to land back in the capital after just a few minutes of flying.
Former Manchester United prospect Saidy Janko took to social media to give a detailed account of the incident, calling for an immediate end to such occurrences.
"After traveling 32 hours in total from Saudi Arabia (Training Camp) to Gambia with long layovers in Istanbul and Casablanca, we were supposed to fly from Gambia to ivory Coast for the AFCON today," Janko wrote in an Instagram post.
"As soon as we entered the small plane that was hired to fly us, we noticed the immense heat that left us dripping in sweat. It was assured to us by the Crew that the air condition would start once we are in the sky."
"Whilst in the Air, the situation got worse, leaving the pilot with no other option, than initiating an emergency landing back in Banjul airport nine minutes after take-off. Which happened successfully. If it wasn't for this, the consequences could have been a lot worse!"
"We are grateful that everyone is feeling well but this is a situation that has to be addressed going into the AFCON, as being only one of our obstacles on international duty," Janko added.
"This is unacceptable and such has to cease with immediate effect."
Speaking to Nieuwsblad via The Sun, Gambia manager Tom Saintfiet commented on the episode, saying: "We could all have been dead.
"We all fell asleep quickly. Me, too. I had short dreams about how my life was done. Really and truly."
He added that some players only woke up after the plane had landed.
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The Scorpions are said to now be looking for a way to travel to Ivory Coast ahead of their opening AFCON encounter against Group C rivals Senegal on Monday, 15 January.
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