FG GroundS DANA Planes, Senate Orders NCAA Boss, Demuren To Step Aside

The Federal Government this afternoon withdrew the operating license of Dana Airlines for safety and precautionary reasons.

This was disclosed by the spokesman of the Ministry of Aviation, Mr. Joe Obi and comes on the heels of an earlier resolution of the Senate banning the airline from flying in the Nigerian airspace.

Earlier, the Senate has asked the Federal Government to ground all planes belonging to DANA Airline until investigations are completed into Sunday's deadly crash which killed 153 passengers and crew and unknown number of people on ground.

At plenary Tuesday morning, the upper legislative chamber also ordered the Director General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Harold Demuren, to step aside until the conclusion of investigation into the accident.

Besides, the senators want aviation authorities in the country to conduct an audit of the airlines in the country with a view to determining their airworthiness.