A Nigerian student’s journey from Lagos to London onboard Egypt Air took a tragic turn when she reportedly fell sick mid-flight and died at a hospital in Cairo.
The family of the deceased, identified as Meshioye Remilekun Toyosi, is seeking answers and assistance in repatriating her remains to Nigeria.
The ill-fated journey began on Monday as the lady departed the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, hoping to reach her destination in London.
Meshioye’s elder sister, Mrs Olufunmilola Olaniyi-Alabi, while narrating what happened, said the family had tried to call the airline’s customer care and all other phone details on their website but no response all through Wednesday and that when the call was answered, they quickly cut it.
She said, “It was only once that a man answered the call that we put through to the Egypt Air Regional Office in London and he said the London office was not aware of what happened and they don’t have information to share with us. We then contacted the agent who sold the ticket to her and the agent sent us proof that she did not board the plane going to Heathrow from Cairo. It was at this point we intensified our efforts as regards trying to get in touch with Egypt Air.”
“The regional manager in their London office made some calls on Thursday afternoon in her office to their Cairo office. She later informed us that Remi fell sick on the plane and on landing in Cairo they rushed her to the hospital in town where she later died. Efforts to obtain more information from her were not quite successful as to how she died. She said the Nigerian embassy had been informed and they were the ones that should have contacted us. She later called the Nigerian consular (Mr Saliu Agraza).”
Speaking further, she said she felt strongly that Egypt Air should have contacted the passenger’s next of kin instead of them struggling to get information, which the airline was yet to provide as of press time.
She added, “We spoke to the Nigerian Embassy in the person of Mr Saliu Agraza, who responded that Eygpt Air only informed them on Tuesday that Remi was dead and handed over her body to them but did not have any other information or any contact of her relatives.