Gambia players, staff say oxygen failed on plane to AFCON

Gambia head coach Tom Saintfiet said his team avoided tragedy on Wednesday when the plane carrying them to Ivory Coast for the Africa Cup of Nations was forced to turn back due to from a lack of oxygen.

The team traveled on a small 50-seat propeller plane, registered to Air Côte d'Ivoire, which had been organized for them by the Gambia football federation.

Saintfiet said the flight's oxygen supply failed, causing some team members to lose consciousness before the pilot chose to return to Banjul, the Gambian capital.

The Gambian FA said that “preliminary investigations indicated that there was a loss of pressure and oxygen in the cabin.

“However, the technical team of the flight operating company, Air Côte d'Ivoire, is further assessing the situation to establish the cause of the lack of oxygen and pressure in the cabin,” the statement said.

Air Côte d'Ivoire has not yet responded to a request for comment from ESPN.

Saintfiet told ESPN: “We were really dying on the plane. There was no oxygen on that plane, everyone fell asleep, became a little unconscious and the pilot decided , after nine minutes of flight, to come back to save our lives.

“There were no oxygen masks falling… I am ready to die for Gambia, but on the football field, not off it. I had short dreams where my life was unfolding, I “I had times when I thought I was dying.”

Gambian defender Saidy Janko said his teammates began to lose consciousness after the plane took off.

“As soon as we entered the small plane that had been rented to transport us, we noticed the intense heat which left us sweating,” Janko said in an Instagram post. “The crew assured us that the air conditioning would kick in once we were in the sky.

“The inhuman heat combined with lack of oxygen left many people with severe headaches and dizziness. Additionally, people began to fall deeply asleep within minutes of takeoff.

“In the air, the situation worsened, leaving the pilot with no choice but to make an emergency landing. Without this, the consequences could have been much worse.”

They are due to play their first CAN match against holders Senegal in Yamoussoukro on Monday, but Saintfiet said their participation in the tournament was now in the balance.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) declined to comment.

“People are still having headaches, vomiting, dizziness. It could take weeks before we recover from it,” Saintfiet added. “We are confused and we are even saying not to go to the Africa Cup because we are not being treated the way we want.

“We have families, we have children, but [they] put us on the cheapest plane possible. We haven't trained in three days, we haven't slept in three days, we haven't had breakfast in two days.

“If that’s the case, let’s go home, forget about the CAN.”

Saintfiet said his Gambian team remained in Banjul, having declined an invitation from the Gambia FA to attempt the 2,100km flight again on the same plane they had initially embarked on on Wednesday.

“They tried to put us on a plane, the same plane, this morning, and we all refused,” Saintfiet said. “Even if we have to travel on a commercial flight tomorrow, we will, but we will not enter that plane, or any similar type of small propeller plane.

“We fly with a real plane, not with an illegal plane or a plane like that.”

After facing Senegal next week, Gambia – who are competing in their second Nations Cup after successive qualifiers under Saintfiet – are set to face Guinea in Yamoussoukro on January 19, before closing out their group stage campaign against Cameroon four days later. .

Information from Reuters was used in this report.