"Another half hour of flight and we would all be dead." Tragedy narrowly avoided in flight for the national team Gambia, directed in Ivory Coast for Africa Cup of NationsAccording to the players themselves, the oxygen in the cabin suddenly ran out, and some players fainted. The pilot of the chartered plane noticed the problem in time and managed to land just nine minutes after takeoff.

Saidy Janko posted a video of the players getting off the plane with "severe headaches and extreme dizziness." Tom Saintfiet, Belgian coach of Gambia, told the Dutch newspaper Nieuwsblad: "We could have all died. We all fell asleep quickly. Me too. I had short dreams about how my life had gone. Really. After nine minutes, the pilot decided to return because there was no more oxygen. Some players didn't even wake up after landing. We almost had carbon monoxide poisoning. Another half hour of flight and we would all have died."

Janko wrote on Instagram: After traveling for a total of 32 hours from Saudi Arabia to Gambia, with long layovers in Istanbul and Casablanca, today we were supposed to fly from Gambia to Ivory Coast for the AFCON. As soon as we boarded the small chartered plane, we noticed an unbearable heat that made us sweat. The crew assured us that the air conditioning would be turned on once we were in flight. The inhuman heat, combined with the lack of oxygen, left many people with severe headaches and extreme dizziness.

Tragedy narrowly avoided for Gambia National Team, the story of the flight

The children began to fall into a deep sleep within minutes of takeoff. During the flight, the situation worsened, leaving the pilot with no choice but to initiate an emergency landing at Banjul Airport nine minutes after takeoff. This was successful. If it hadn't been for this, the consequences could have been much worse. We're grateful that everyone is feeling okay, but this is a situation that must be addressed. This is unacceptable.

A statement from the Gambian Football Association reads: The charter flight carrying the Scorpions to the Africa Cup of Nations returned to Banjul due to technical problems. Upon landing, preliminary investigations indicated a loss of cabin pressure and oxygen. However, the technical team of the flight's operating company, Air Cote d'Ivoire, is further assessing the situation to determine the cause of the lack of oxygen and cabin pressure.