The Gambia football team has escaped death. On the way to Ivory Coast, where Gambia will begin the Africa Cup of Nations on Monday, the plane had to return after nine minutes because it ran out of oxygen. “If we had flown another half hour, we would all have died from CO poisoning,” said Belgian national team coach Tom Saintfiet (50), also on the plane.
I WAIT. Some players shared images of the plane on Instagram
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Saintfiet provided our editors with the shocking account of the facts. “We had been on the plane for a few minutes when we noticed something was wrong. It was very hot, people began to sweat and constantly fell asleep, actually slept. And this even though it was afternoon. The cause turned out to be a lack of oxygen. The brain was deprived of oxygen. After nine minutes the pilot decided to return. It took him a little longer before landing. Many players were already fast asleep at that time. If we had flown another half hour, we would all have died on the plane from carbon monoxide poisoning. Now we are back in Gambia, a few days before the start of the Africa Cup of Nations. We don’t know how to proceed. In any case, we no longer want to fly the aircraft in question. After the Marrakech earthquake in September we escaped death due to carbon monoxide poisoning on the plane.”
Tom Saint-Fiet © AFP
And the Gambian team had already experienced a turbulent few days. The players, coached by the Belgian Saintfiet, had initially refused to travel to the Ivory Coast before receiving the bonuses for placing in the Africa Cup of Nations. The players even refused to train on Tuesday evening. Not everyone liked this, given that hundreds of fans had come to the stadium to watch the national team train.
The situation then became complicated when disappointed fans confronted members of the GFF (Gambia Football Federation), after which the local riot police (Police Intervention Unit) had to intervene with tear gas and batons.
So the intention was to fly to Ivory Coast on Wednesday. There was also more clarity about the bonuses: they would be fine.
Alieu Fadera (Racing Genk), Sulayman Marreh (ex-Gent and ex-Eupen), Omar Colley (ex-Genk) and Bubacarr Sanneh (ex-Anderlecht) play for Gambia. Gambia will play their first match on Monday against Senegal, one of the favorites to win the final. Guinea and Cameroon are the other two nations in Group C.
Buba Jallow Fallaboweh @soccercafe1
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Tom Saint-Fiet © AFP
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2024-01-10 22:55:43
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