Nigeria shuts Abuja airport after plane veers off runway

Reuters

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's Abuja airport has been closed since Wednesday night after a Saudi Arabian cargo plane veered off the runway, the aviation ministry said on Thursday. The plane ran off the runway late on Wednesday but no one was hurt, ministry spokesman Joe Obi said, without naming the airline that operated the plane. "The operation to remove the plane to a safe distance from the runway is under way. We hope to resume normal operations by the end of the day," Obi said by telephone. Airlines that fly to Abuja, Nigeria's administrative capital, include British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France, EgyptAir and Ethiopian Airlines. (Reporting by Joe Brock; editing by Tom Pfeiffer) (This story was refiled to change day of incident to Wednesday in the second paragraph)