Gambia's national team have spoken of the horror they experienced after being 'half hour from death' on a faulty plane to the Africa Cup of Nations.
The squad had just finished their pre-tournament training camp in Saudi Arabia when they returned to their homeland ahead of the biennial event.
A chartered flight was then scheduled to take them to the Ivory Coast ahead of their AFCON opener against defending champions Senegal.
But those aboard the flight quickly experienced discomfort when they got on the plane with many sweating from the "immense heat".
Those on board were dripping with sweat
They were originally reassured by the cabin crew that the issue would be fixed once the plane was in the air, but the problem worsened as players and staff began to fall asleep with the pilot forced to make an emergency landing.
Gambia head coach Tom Saintfiet claimed they "could all have been dead" had the pilot waited another few minutes.
He said: "We all fell asleep quickly, after nine minutes, the pilot decided to return because there was no oxygen supply.
"Some players did not wake up immediately after landing. We almost got carbon monoxide poisoning.
"Another half hour of flight and we would all be dead."
Former Manchester United man Saidy Janko posted a clip of the team exiting the plane on Instagram with a detailed account of what had happened.
The distressing footage showed the extent of the conditions on board with many seen trying to catch their breathe and dripping with sweat.
He wrote: "After traveling 32 hours in total from Saudi Arabia(Training Camp) to The Gambia with long layovers in Istanbul and Casablanca, we were supposed to fly from Gambia to ivory Coast for the AFCON today.
"As soon as we entered the small plane that was hired to fly us, we noticed the immense heat that left us dripping in sweat. It was assured to us by the Crew that the air condition would start once we are in the sky.
Gambia players and staff made a quick exit from the plane
"The inhumane heat mixed with the occurring lack of oxygen left many people with strong headaches and extreme dizziness. Furthermore, people started falling deeply asleep minutes after entering the aircraft/takeoff.
"Whilst in the Air, the situation got worse, leaving the pilot with no other option, than initiating an emergency landing back in Banjul airport nine minutes after takeoff. Which happened successfully.
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"If it wasn’t for this, the consequences could have been a lot worse !!!.. knowing what could have happened, if we would have been exposed to the situation for any longer - in an airplane, running out of oxygen.
"We are grateful that everyone is feeling well but this is a situation that has to be addressed going into the AFCON, as being only one of our obstacles on international duty.
"This is unacceptable and such has to cease with immediate effect."
