Lagos — Activities at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) and other airports in the country were grounded yesterday as air traffic controllers under the aegis of National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) embarked on an indefinite strike.

The strike, which started at about 2:30pm, is said to have been caused by the death of one of the traffic controllers, Mr. Martins Umoh, who was said to have died after an ailment.

According to sources, Mr. Umoh who was said to be suffering from a protracted illness had asked the management of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) for help to be flown abroad for treatment only for the agency to turn him down for lack of fund.

Umoh was said to have died yesterday morning, which led the union within the agency to embark on an indefinite strike.

Meanwhile, several flights have been delayed, as there were no air traffic controllers to man the radars and direct aircraft.

Apart from Delta Airline's inaugural flight, many other airlines including local and foreign, had their flights disrupted because of the strike.

Media Assistant of Chanchangi Airline, Ibrahim Adamu, decried the strike that affected the airlines activities immensely.

"It is sad, we had to cancel our Owerri bound flight which had 90 passengers on board, some of the passengers have agreed to come back tomorrow (today) assuming they ATCs will call off the strike tomorrow (today), while others have been refunded, "he said.

The Head of Communication, IRS Airline, Mr. Solomon Ibharuneafe, said that the strike was unfortunate and that it had affected the airline's finances and image.

His words, "Our flight from Maiduguri to Abuja with 75 passengers was cancelled, it is bad for the image of our airline not to talk of the massive financial loss in an industrywhereis difficult to break even."

Daily Champion, as at press time, could not ascertain if the controllers will agree to call off the strike which may continue today if not resolved while the NAMA management was preparing to address press conference on the issue.