In an almost catastrophic development, a RwandAir aircraft experienced a tyre burst on Monday at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in Harare.
According to Airports Company of Zimbabwe (ACZ), the incident reportedly happened just as the RwandAir plane was just about to take off. Luckily the plane did not crash.
No deaths or injuries were recorded.
Meanwhile, as a result of the tyre burst incident, there was a temporary disruption of service on the runway. Flights were diverted from Harare to Lusaka.
After some time, they finally managed to replace the tyre and cleared the runway.
The aircraft is now clearing the runway after replacing the tire. pic.twitter.com/MNCrhnA0JS
— Airports Company Of Zimbabwe 🇿🇼 (@Airports_Zim) December 18, 2023
The news about the RwandAir tyre bust has left many people shocked.
However, many people are relieved that the incident occurred during take off rather than landing.
Netizens opined that had the incident happened when the plane was landing, the incident was going to be more disastrous.
Additionally, the incident sparked inquiries regarding the reason behind Zimbabwe’s primary airport having just one runway.
“It means you need a second runway….. are there any plans for that? If not, then you should have plans for a second runway….," commented an X user.
Another joked: “At least you guys had a spare wheel.” Continuing with the humour, @zimbigboy responded: “I doubt there was any disruption to inbound/outbound flights as we normally have one flight out every five hours.”
In an updated post, ACZ said the incident had been resolved.
“We confirm that the runway has been cleared and normal operations have now resumed at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport,” they wrote.