By Chinelo Obogo
A Nigerian passenger, Ms. Meshioye Toyosi Remilekun, who took an EgyptAir flight from Lagos to London on Monday, September 4th, 2023, has been reported dead.
According to the family, Ms Meshioye, a student, boarded Flight MS876, a Boeing 737-800 from the Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Lagos that was meant to take her from Nigeria to the UK.
According to her elder sister who resides in the United Kingdom, Mrs Olufunmilola Olaniyi-Alabi, Ms Remilekun reportedly died and her corpse was deposited in Cairo by the airline. She also said that EgyptAir did not inform the family of her demise, instead, they got a message from the consular office in Cairo informing them of her death.
She said they reported the matter to the London Police after calling EgyptAir for the whereabouts of their sister and are apprehensive to know what happened to her and how to get her corpse back to Nigeria.
“Myself and my husband reside in Leeds, UK. We later travelled on Wednesday night to get to London (Heathrow) on Thursday morning and we demanded to see the Egyptair regional manager in their London office. She made some calls in her office to their Cairo office. She later informed us that Remi fell sick in the plane and on landing in Cairo they rushed her to the hospital in town where she later died.
“The effort to obtain more information from her was not quite successful as to how she died. She said the Nigerian Embassy has been informed and they are ones that should have contacted us. She later called the Nigeria consular (Mr Saliu Agraza).
“I strongly feel that Egyptair should have contacted us as the passenger’s next of kin as against us struggling to get information which as at this time that I am writing , they are yet to provide to us.
“We spoke to the Nigerian Embassy in the person of Mr. Saliu Agraza who responded that Eygptair only informed them on Tuesday that Remi is dead and handed over her body to them but did not have any other information or any contact of her relatives.
“I am of the opinion that Egyptair is hiding some truth as to what happened to her in the plane and on landing at the airport on Monday night . They don’t want to take responsibility for what happened to Remi,” she said.
General Manager of EgyptAir in Nigeria, Mr. Basha confirmed the incident and said the passenger’s route was Lagos to London via Cairo but that when the passenger arrived at the transit area, she reported sick and the airport quarantine department was called to check her and decided that she needed to be hospitalised.
“The airport authorities cleared and stamped her into the country and transferred her to the hospital. The Nigerian Embassy in Cairo was contacted and was informed about the case
“More information and the following procedures to bring the body back need to be through the Nigerian Embassy in Cairo,” EgyptAir’s statement read.