The family of Ms. Meshioye Toyosi Remilekun, has demanded the cause of the death of their daughter while travelling onboard EgyptAir Lagos to London flight through Cairo.
Meshioye, a student was said to be flying to the United Kingdom aboard flight MS876, a Boeing 737-800 belonging to Egypt Air that took off from Lagos, Nigeria to the UK on Monday September 4, 2023, where she connects with MS777 to London Heathrow on a Boeing triple seven but unfortunately died on the Lagos in the first leg of the flight.
According to the family Egypt Air never contacted on the development, except for a message from the consular office in Cairo informing them of her death on board the flight.
Angered by this attitude of the Airline, the family became apprehensive of what exactly led to the death of Meshionye and how to get her corpse back to Nigeria.
The elder sister to the deceased who resides in the United Kingdom, Mrs Olufunmilola Olaniyi-Alabi, said they reported the matter to the London police after calling EgyptAir for the whereabouts of her sister.
She said, “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 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 (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 EgyptAir 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.
“EygptAir further said that only the Nigerian Embassy in the person of Mr. Saliu as a Nigerian Consular will be able to write and demand for 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 of Remilekun.
“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.”
However, the General Manager EgyptAir Nigeria, Mr. Basha who confirmed the incident in a statement said: “the passenger’s route was Lagos-London via Cairo on the 4th September, when the passenger arrived transit area she reported she was sick.
“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 to hospital. Nigerian Embassy in Cairo was contacted (Mr. Tarek from public relations department) 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 ,” ,the statement read.