Saudi plane takes off with damaged ceiling

A Saudi aircraft made a domestic flight with a slightly damaged ceiling and passengers said they were frightened through the trip at the sight of stuck tin boards.

The plane, en route from the eastern port of Dammam to the capital Riyadh, landed safely but the passengers said they were panicking and could not relax during the trip.

According to the Arabic language daily 'Sabq', first-class passengers reported that the ceiling of the aircraft, owned by the national carrier Saudi airlines, had some tin boards glued randomly by adhesive tapes just before take-off.

“We were surprised when saw the condition of the ceiling. When the plane took off, we were frightened as we are not used to seeing such things aboard a flight. We were worried something wrong might happen,” a passenger told the paper.

'Sabq' quoted the airlines’ assistant director Abdullah Al Ajhar as saying the repairs were done quickly ahead of full maintenance and that they did not affect the flight safety.

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