Gambia coach Tom Saintfiet has claimed the national team came within half an hour of death after their flight to the African Cup of Nations was forced to land due to lack of oxygen on Wednesday.
The squad and coaching staff were on a flight from the capital city of Banjul heading for the Ivory Coast for the tournament, which was due to take two and a half hours.
Several players passed out shortly after boarding the plane, with the pilot forced to return the to Banjul Airport just nine minutes after taking off. Saintfiet, a Belgian coach who has managed Gambia since , believes everyone on the flight could have died from carbon monoxide poisoning had the pilot not returned to the airport.
Gambia coach Tom Saintfiet has claimed the squad could have died had the flight continued. The flight carrying the Gambia squad to the Africa Cup of Nations was force to make an emergency landing after the oxygen supply failed.
We almost got carbon monoxide poisoning. Gambia Football Federation president Lamin Kaba Bajo claimed there was no evidence for the claims the delegation could have been at risk of potential carbon monoxide poisoning. I was almost sitting next to the coach and I didn't see anyone collapse. There was not a single incident, we all came down and boarded the bus to go back to the terminal. Janko called the situation 'unacceptable' in an Instagram post after the incident.
