There was pandemonium yesterday at the Arrival Hall of the
Murtala Muhammed International Airport, as a passenger slumped and died.
It was said that the
passenger slumped in front of the Port Health Services office, while waiting to
collect his vaccination card, usually known as Yellow Card.
His body was covered with an orange-coloured cloth and left
unattended to by the office. However, the area was barricaded to forestall
people coming there, as people were redirected to pass other routes.
We gathered that
the dead man was supposed to fly to Ghana for medical check-up when he suddenly
collapsed at the airport and died.
The sad incident, which happened at the arrival floor, set
fear in the spine of passengers and other airport officials that witnessed what
happened.
The female relative of the dead man, who was crying, was
quoted as saying, “Ceekay, please get up; Ceekay, please get up”.
Meanwhile, a statement later released by the General
Manager, Corporate Communications of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria,
Mr. Yakubu Dati, gave the late passenger’s name as Mr. Akunne Osei.
It noted that the deceased was tested for the Ebola virus
and the result later came in negative.
The statement said, “FAAN wishes to inform the public that a
Nigerian passenger, residing in Accra, who arrived Lagos for business
transactions aboard an Arik Air flight on Friday August 8, 2014, has died at
the Murtala Mohammad Airport, Ikeja, on his way back to Accra.
“The passenger, Osei, took ill on Saturday August 9 and
started stooling. When the situation got worse, he called his doctor in Accra,
who instructed him to return to Ghana immediately for further treatment.
“During boarding formalities for his return trip to Accra at
the international terminal of MMA, Osei, who had obviously become weak at this
time, was subjected to Ebola Virus test by port health officials, the result of
which was negative. No further attention was paid to him after his Ebola Virus
result read negative but the passenger later slumped and died around the port
health office.
The passenger’s death coincided with the visit of the new
Aviation Minister, Chief Osita Chidoka , who inspected facilities at both the
domestic and international terminals of the airport.
It was the minister’s maiden visit to Lagos to inspect
airport facilities and engage stakeholders.
No comments:
Post a Comment