Tragedy as London-bound Nigerian student dies on board Egypt Air

The journey of a Nigerian student from Lagos to London onboard Egypt Air was fatally cut short as she reportedly took ill and passed on.

The deceased — Meshioye Remilekun Toyosi — had on Monday departed the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, for London via Egypt.

It was learnt that after she took ill, on landing in Cairo, she was taken to a hospital where she reportedly gave up the ghost.

The deceased’s family has accused the airline of failing to inform them about her death but only got to know of it through the Consular Office in Cairo.

A member of the family also accused Egypt Air of hiding some truth about what happened to Remilekun in the plane.

“The airline is hiding something as to what happened on landing at the airport on Monday night. They don’t want to take responsibility for what happened to Remi.

“As the family of Remilekun, we are demanding for her body to be returned to Nigeria by Egypt Air at their expense and they should return all her luggage to Lagos where she boarded the plane on Monday, September 4,” Mrs Olufunmilola Olaniyi-Alabi, an elder sister demanded.

According to her, all efforts to call the airline’s customer care lines as advertised on their website were unsuccessful as there was no response, adding that when the call was eventually picked it was immediately terminated

Olaniyi-Alabi 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).

“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.”

She added: “Eygpt Air further said only Agraza, being the Nigerian consular, would be able to write and demand what happened on the plane, at the airport and request for all her things and documents that they have in their possession, including the CCTV footage in the plane and at the airport.”

An officer working for the airline disclosed that the deceased was indeed on the said flight but was rushed to a hospital by the airline on arrival at Cairo, Egypt.

“From the report that we received, she was sick on the flight and was reportedly transferred to the hospital in Cairo. When she died, they (the airline) informed the Nigerian Consulate in Cairo to take steps on what was required to repatriate her body to Nigeria.

“The airline took her to the hospital and stood as surety for her and when she passed on they informed the Nigerian Consulate in Cairo about the case. We are working on how to get her body back to Nigeria,” he said.

Meanwhile, the family of Remilekun has demanded an explanation from the Nigerian authorities, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, about the circumstances leading to her death.

They also called for a thorough investigation into the incident.