Head coach of the Gambia national team, Tom Saintfiet, said the team “could have died” on their way to Côte d’Ivoire for the 2023 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) scheduled to kick off on Saturday after the plane they boarded suffered a “pressurisation issue”.

On Wednesday, the team were on their way for the tournament, and suddenly, the contingents of the ‘Scorpions’ started falling asleep involuntarily only 30 minutes into the flight, which forced the cabin crew to abort the flight and return back to Banjul.

Speaking to BBC Sport Africa about the incident, Saintfiet said he believed the team “could have died” if not because of the quick thinking of the pilots to abort the flight — he said the inside of the aircraft became hot and suppressed the oxygen level inside the cockpit as many fell asleep.

“The local crew said there was a problem with the air conditioning before we took off but that it would be all fine when we took off,” he told the BBC. “After a few minutes, it was very hot in the plane,” he added.

“We all fell asleep because there was a lack of oxygen – some of the players couldn’t be woken up. The pilot noticed and we had to return.

He added: “People got headaches and if the flight had gone on for another 30 minutes, the whole team would have died. The strange thing is that the oxygen masks didn’t come out – it’s good that the pilot realised that this was a deadly situation and so turned back.”

Meanwhile, the airline Air Côte d’Ivoire, an official partner of the 2023 AFCON, confirmed in a statement that the aircraft suffered a “pressurisation issue”, and the crew ultimately made the decision to return back to Banjul, the capital city of Gambia.