The Senator representing Kwara Central Senatorial District, Dr. Bukola Saraki yesterday reacted to the reported escape in a British Airways plane crash in London, thanking admirers and well-wishers who called to express concern over the incident.

Senator Saraki wrote: "The incident that happened on the British Airways flight was nothing close to a plane crash. As a precautionary measure, the aircraft simply got diverted to Birmingham due to bad weather over Heathrow airport. I appreciate all the calls, texts and prayers from well-wishers in Nigeria and all over the world who have reached out to me since this incident a few days ago."

Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno state was reported to have escaped death by the whiskers on a British Airways flight 082 that was reportedly struck by thunder while approaching Heathrow International Airport in London on Thursday.

Some other top Nigerian political leaders like former governor of Kwara State, Senator Bukola Saraki, former Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Hon. Victor Ochei were also said to be aboard the plane.

According to reports, the plane left Abuja around 8am on Thursday and was billed to land at Heathrow airport at about 2.30pm, but the weather in Heathrow was so bad and the plane had to hover for about 40 minutes in the air without being able to land, before heading towards Birmingham airport to have an emergency landing as they were running short on fuel.

The plane had already been hit by a lightning which caused a loud bang in the plane and damaged some electrical, one of the passengers aboard the flight revealed.

A source revealed that Gov Shettima and others were kept in the plane for about two hours during which the aircraft was refueled and an attempt was made at fixing some engineering issues caused by the thunder.

"The passengers were later reportedly put on three luxury buses at about 6pm which took them by road to London when it became apparent that the plane couldn't continue on the journey. They reportedly arrived London at about 10pm, and had to bear the brunt of looking for a place to pass the night as some of them couldn't anywhere at that time.

"The shock of the loud bang caused by the thunder and the several hours spent both in the air hovering and on the road left many of us weak and sick but our joy is that we survived what could have been a major disaster on the heels of the Boko Haram inflicted tragedies in Nigeria", the source added.