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A Triton Aviation jet lost a door minutes after taking off from Abuja, forcing its crew to declare a Mayday and make an emergency landing.
A Triton Aviation jet lost a door shortly after taking off from Abuja for Lagos on Thursday.
The crew declared a Mayday emergency at about 3,000 feet and returned safely to Abuja.
A video shows people claiming to have found the missing door on farmland, while aviation investigators examine the incident.
A Triton Aviation jet lost a door shortly after take-off from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Thursday, October 15, 2026, forcing the crew to declare an emergency and turn back.
The CL60 aircraft, registration number T7-SEI and flight identification DWC052, was heading to Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, when the crew made a Mayday call, according to a serious incident report cited by Nigerian media outlets.
The report states that the jet took off from Runway 22 at 1617 UTC. About three nautical miles from the airport and climbing through 3,000 feet, the crew transmitted "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday" at 1620 UTC and reported that a door had opened in flight.
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Triton Aviation jet that lost a door shortly after take-off
Approach radar controllers directed the aircraft back to Abuja. At 1622 UTC, the airport's fire watch room and medical team were placed on standby, with rescue units positioned at designated points on the airfield.
At 1629 UTC, the crew asked the control tower whether controllers could confirm if the door was open. The duty air traffic controller tried to check with binoculars but could not see it because of the aircraft's position, the report states.
The jet landed safely on Runway 22 at about 1634 UTC, roughly 14 minutes after the distress call. Only then did the controller observe that the door was missing from the fuselage. The aircraft was later taxied to the international apron extension and parked with the help of a marshaller.
A video circulating online shows farmers who say they found a door on farmland in the Abuja area. In the clip, an unidentified man says they came across it while returning from the farm and that it fell from a plane. The number of people on board has not been confirmed.
The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) confirmed the incident through its Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, but declined to comment further, saying the matter falls under the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB).
NSIB told reporters that investigators had been deployed and an official statement would be issued in due course. Triton Aviation has not responded publicly as at the time of writing.
It remains unclear what caused the door to come off, pending the outcome of the NSIB's investigation.