The Gambia national football team will leave for Ivory Coast  today (11 January) after their terrifying flight ordeal on Wednesday. 

The team’s Air Côte d’Ivoire chartered flight made an emergency landing just nine minutes after leaving Banjul due to cabin pressure, lack of oxygen and severe heat. 

The players have been shaken by the ordeal with many taking to social media to complain about their poor treatments by The Gambia Football Federation (GFF)

However President Adama Barrow has intervened and a replacement plane has been allocated to the team. 

According to GFF, the team wanted to fly directly to Yamoussoukro, which is a smaller airport and for security reasons there is special approval required for bigger flights to land there.

“Thus, President Barrow was in touch with his Ivorian counterpart Alassane Ouattara on the matter. In this regard, Air Côte d’Ivoire has already dispatched an Airbus 319 which will arrive in Banjul at midday to ferry the team. The permits have also been granted for the Airbus to land in Yamoussoukro instead of Abidjan,” it added.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba