According to British and Dutch media reports, the Gambian national team almost had a catastrophic incident on its way to Côte d'Ivoire, the host of the Africa Cup of Nations: because the air conditioning was not turned on on the plane, there was too little oxygen, many people felt severe headaches and dizziness, some even passed out, and the plane had to turn back about 10 minutes after takeoff.
The Gambia national team had threatened to refuse to participate in the Africa Cup of Nations because they had not received the award for qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations, but in the end they agreed to participate in the Africa Cup of Nations, and the Gambia Football Federation promised to pay for the team's transportation and chartered a small plane to fly to Côte d'Ivoire.
The Gambia is in the middle of summer in January, with daily highs exceeding 30°C. But the players and coaches of the Gambian national team found that the plane was not air-conditioned, and the plane was hot and oxygen-deprived.
Manchester United Academy graduate Janko wrote on INS: "We felt something unusually hot as soon as we stepped into the plane, which made us all sweat, and the crew assured us that the air conditioning would be activated after takeoff. But the high temperature and lack of oxygen have caused many people to feel severe headaches and dizziness, and some have even passed out. ”
Speaking to the media, the Belgian coach of the Gambian national team, Santfit, said: "Everyone was already sweating profusely when they got on the plane. Me too, it's unstoppable, a very strange feeling. ”
And after the plane took off, the air conditioning was still not activated, the oxygen on the plane was getting less and less, and most passengers were in a dangerous state of hypoxia. After about ten minutes, the pilot decided to return home. "We survived," Santfit said. Some players didn't wake up immediately after they landed. The flight takes three hours, and if we continue to fly, it's hard to imagine that we may not be here anymore. ”
"We almost died, we fell asleep very quickly, I had some dreams about death, and then the pilot decided to turn around and go back because there was no oxygen on the plane," Santfit later recalled. Some of the players didn't wake up immediately after the plane landed, maybe another half an hour and we were all dead. ”
This "narrowly escaped" experience will cast a big shadow on the Gambia team's Africa Cup of Nations journey. "Some of the players have been traumatized. And now, the whole team is mentally shaken. ”
In this Africa Cup of Nations, the Gambia team is in the same group as Senegal, Cameroon and Guinea. At 22 o'clock on January 15, Beijing time, the Gambia team will play the first group stage against the defending champion Senegal.
Edited by Ou Peng
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