- By Halimah Olamide
The family of the passenger who died aboard an Egypt Air has narrated what they went through to discover the tragedy that had befallen them.
The family is demanding the release of the remains of Remilekun Toyosi Meshioye who was on her way to London enroute Cairo having bought the airline’s ticket.
The flight, MS 876 flight to Cairo had taken off from the Muritala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos and she was to connect Egypt Air flight MS777 the following day.
But she was said to have died aboard the flight, and her corpse was allegedly dropped off in Cairo, the Egypt Capital, by the airline.
In a statement signed by Olufunmilola Olaniyi-Alabi, the elder sister of the deceased, they are demanding the release of her corpse by the airline.
Olaniyi-Alabi said rather than the airline informing their passenger’s next of kin of what happened, they contacted the Nigerian consulate in Cairo.
She said, “ My sister left Lagos for the UK on Monday at 14:00 via Egyptair line and eventually died during 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 up, they quickly cut it.
“It was only once that a man picked up the call that we put through to the 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.
Olaniyi-Alabi disclosed that it was at this point that they intensified their efforts as regards trying to get in touch with Egypt Air.
She said: “Myself and my husband reside in Leeds, UK and later travelled to London (Heathrow) on Wednesday night to get to London on Thursday morning, and we demanded to see the EgyptAir regional manager in their London office, who made some calls on Thursday afternoon 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 the ones that should have contacted us. She later called the Nigeria consular (Saliu Agraza).
“I strongly feel that EgyptAir should have contacted us as the passenger’s next of kin against us struggling to get information which as of this time that I am writing, they are yet to provide to us.
“We spoke to the Nigerian Embassy in the person of Saliu Agraza, who responded that EgyptAir 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.
“EygptAir further said that only the Nigerian Embassy in the person of Saliu, as a Nigerian Consular, will be able to write and demand what happened on the plane and at the airport to Remilekun and request for all her belongings and documents that they have in their possession, including the CCTV footage in the plane and at the airport.”
She accused Egypt Air of hiding the truth of what happened to her sister on the plane and on landing at the airport on Monday night and does not want to take responsibility for what happened to her.
“As a family of Remilekun, we are demanding for her body to be returned back to Nigeria by EgyptAir at their own expense, and they should return all her luggage back to Lagos where she boarded the plane on Monday 4th of September,” she added.