"We could have died". Gambia's flight to the AFCON almost turned into a disaster

The Gambia national team landed in Ivory Coast yesterday for the Africa Cup of Nations-2023, but their journey could have turned into a real disaster.

According to the players and coaching staff, when they found themselves in the sky, the plane suddenly became short of oxygen. After a few minutes on the flight, they fell asleep, and head coach Tom Saintfiet says he began dreaming about how his life was going.

"We almost got choking gas poisoning. Another half hour of flying and we would have all been dead", – says the Belgian coach.

Fortunately, after 10 minutes of the flight, the pilots managed to make an emergency landing in the Gambian capital Banjul to fix the plane.

On January 15, the Gambian national team will play in the 1st round of the Africa Cup of Nations against reigning continental champions Senegal. It will also face Guinea and Cameroon in the group stage.

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This Cup of African Nations will be only the second for Gambia in its history.

Recall, AFCON-2023 will be held in Ivory Coast from January 13 to February 10.