{"id":46763,"date":"2024-01-11T23:07:06","date_gmt":"2024-01-11T23:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/gambia-afcon-squad-survives-near-disaster-on-flight-to-ivory-coast\/"},"modified":"2024-01-11T23:07:06","modified_gmt":"2024-01-11T23:07:06","slug":"gambia-afcon-squad-survives-near-disaster-on-flight-to-ivory-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/gambia-afcon-squad-survives-near-disaster-on-flight-to-ivory-coast\/","title":{"rendered":"Gambia AFCON Squad Survives Near-Disaster on Flight to Ivory Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure class=\"featuredimg\">\n <\/p>\n<p class=\"captionimg\">Gambia AFCON Squad Survives Near-Disaster on Flight to Ivory Coast<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>Gambia\u2019s AFCON flight had pressurization scare.<\/li>\n<li>Quick pilot action prevented issues.<\/li>\n<li>Team trains, faces Senegal in AFCON opener.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Gambia national football team narrowly escaped a potential tragedy as their flight to Ivory Coast for the upcoming 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) faced a life-threatening situation. Coach Tom Saintfiet revealed that an Air Cote d\u2019Ivoire flight, designated for the Gambian squad, experienced a pressurization problem, which, if left unattended, could have resulted in fatal consequences.<\/p>\n<p>The flight, departing from Banjul, Gambia\u2019s capital, made a swift turnaround shortly after takeoff when the lack of oxygen led many members of the delegation to fall asleep. Coach Saintfiet commended the pilot\u2019s quick thinking in recognizing the severity of the situation and taking decisive action to return to safety.<\/p>\n<p>Saintfiet described the conditions inside the plane, stating, \u201cAfter a few minutes, it was very hot in the plane. We all fell asleep because there was a lack of oxygen \u2013 some of the players couldn\u2019t be woken up.\u201d He emphasized that if the flight had continued for another 30 minutes, the entire team could have faced a tragic fate.<\/p>\n<p>Air Cote d\u2019Ivoire, the official airline of AFCON 2023, confirmed the pressurization issue and explained that it could have been resolved by a ground mechanic. However, the flight was canceled due to previous delays impacting the crew\u2019s working hours.<\/p>\n<p>While Saintfiet suggested the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning, Gambia Football Federation (GFF) president Lamin Kaba Bajo dismissed these claims, stating that there was no evidence to support such assertions.<\/p>\n<p>The incident comes just four months after the Gambian team experienced the devastating earthquake in Marrakesh, Morocco. Despite the challenging circumstances during the flight, the Gambia squad chose to engage in training upon their return to Banjul, with some players unable to participate due to lingering effects.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome players could not train because of what happened. They still have headaches, and that is worrying, while some of the players are still dizzy,\u201d said Coach Saintfiet. The Gambia is scheduled to face neighbors Senegal in their opening game on Monday, hoping to overcome the physical and mental challenges they have encountered in their journey to the AFCON tournament.<\/p>\n<p><h4 class=\"text-uppercase mb-10 mt-20 fs-18\">Also Read<\/h4>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gambia AFCON Squad Survives Near-Disaster on Flight to Ivory Coast Gambia\u2019s AFCON flight had pressurization scare. Quick pilot action prevented issues. Team trains, faces Senegal in AFCON opener. Gambia national football team narrowly escaped a potential tragedy as their flight to Ivory Coast for the upcoming 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) faced a life-threatening [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.bolnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/vfdvdfsdfvv.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}