Egypt Air breaks silence on death of London-bound Nigerian passenger

Egypt Air has broken its silence on the death of a Nigerian passenger aboard its flight on Monday.

The passenger, a young lady travelling to London on a connecting flight via Cairo, was said to have passed away after arriving in Cairo sick.

The family of the deceased had alleged that the corpse was “dumped” in Cairo without properly informing them of the incident while demanding detailed information on the cause of the death.

Olufunmilola Olaniyi-Alabi, the elder sister of the deceased who spoke on behalf of the family, said her sister Remilekun Toyosi Meshioye left Lagos for the UK on Monday at 14:00 via Egypt Air line and eventually died between her transit from Lagos to Cairo according to the little information we got.

Olaniyi-Alabi said they called EgyptAir customer care and all other contact phone details on their website but no response all through Wednesday and when the phone was picked they quickly cut it.

“It was only once that a man picked the call that we put through to EgyptAir Region Office in London and he said the London office is not aware of what happened and they don’t have information to share with us.

“So we were left with no choice but to report to the UK Police Department on Wednesday and they later confirmed to us that our sister was not in the UK. They advised us to contact Cairo or Lagos airports. We 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,” she explained.

She disclosed that it was at this point that they intensified their efforts as regards trying to get in touch with Egypt Air.

“Myself (Elder sister to Remilekun) and my husband reside in Leeds, UK later travelled to London (Heathrow) on Wednesday night to get to London on Thursday morning and we demanded to see the Egypt Air regional manager in their London office who made some calls on Thursday afternoon in her office to their Cairo office.

But a statement from Egypt Air on the incident stated that the deceased reported sick when she arrived at the transit area while the airport quarantine department was called to check her.
After the check, she was recommended to be hospitalized before she later passed away.

The statement by the airline said, “The Airport authorities cleared and stamped her into the country and transferred to hospital.

“Nigerian embassy in Cairo was contacted (Mr Tarek from public relations department) and was informed about the case.”

The airline, however, said the procedure to evacuate the body back home would be provided by the Nigerian embassy in Cairo.