Barely one week after a helicopter landed in the Benin – Ore Expressway, the company that operated the flight: Tropical Arctic Logistics Limited (TAL) said the chopper embarked on medical evacuation for medical services to save a life, The Nation reports.
The chopper company said it got approval from the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency ( NAMA) , which endorsed the clearance for the flight saying it did not breach any aviation regulation in its bid to conduct life-saving operations in collaboration with Flying Doctors.
Briefing reporters at TAL’s headquarters at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, its Chief Operating Officer, Engineer Femi Adeniji said the company was yet to receive any queries or communication from Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority ( NCAA) concerning the flight.
Adeniji said the company was surprised at the undue outrage over reportage when TAL was helicopter was only involved in operations already gaining global traction.
He clarified that the helicopter was never involved in any scheduled flight diversion.
Adeniji said: ”We wish to state that our mission for that flight was to save lives, we immediately swung into action and rushed to the site in record time to pick the individual who is currently recuperating in the hospital .
”We are a licensed logistics company to carry out medical evacuation operations and was engaged to airlift an individual who suffered a serious health challenge while caught in traffic and needed emergency evacuation on the day in question.
”The Benin – Ore road evacuation was conducted in close collaboration with security agencies , the Nigerian Army and Nigerian Police worked assiduously in trying to clear the gridlock caused by the on going road construction.
”They directed us to a clear portion of the road where the operation was handled free from any incident.”