Nigerian travellers have been turned back from flying in to Sri Lankan.
One traveller, Akinkunmi Adeseye, who spoke with PUNCH exclusively on
Saturday, said his family members arrived in the Asian country for a
wedding, but were refused exit from the airport.
He said, "They left Nigeria on an Emirates flight and got to Sri Lanka
at about 10 am. But the Sri Lankan government didn't allow them entry.
"At the airport, they were barred from going anywhere. They weren't
given food and they were treated like zombies."
He said his family members left Nigeria at 2.30 pm on Friday and
arrived Sri Lanka at about 10 am on Saturday,
"The next flight to Nigeria is at 3am on Sunday. That's the flight
they are coming back on. I'm talking of children between the ages of
seven months and two years. They gave them no food, nothing. I have
four family members on that flight," he said.
He added that he and his mother would have been on the same flight.
"My mum and I would have joined them on the same flight, but her
passport was supposed to expire in six weeks, so she was told to get a
new one before leaving," he said.
According to him, his sister and brother-in-law, who live in the UK,
were also turned back.
Adeseye said, "She flew in from the UK. They didn't allow her or
anybody with a green passport in. It wasn't just people coming from
Nigeria; it was Nigerians coming from anywhere, the President had
already given an order that Nigeria should be blacklisted.
"She's leaving at 8.30 pm (Saturday) back to the UK on the same
Emirates flight. They are expected back in the country by 12.30pm
tomorrow (Sunday)."
Airlines have cancelled more than a third of international flights to
three west African countries over fears that an outbreak of the Ebola
virus could spread, as more African countries introduce measures to
block visitors from affected areas.
Of 590 monthly flights scheduled to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone,
216 have been cancelled, according to OAG, an airline data provider.
Although 14 cases of Ebola have been reported in Nigeria, flights to
and from the country have not been affected.
African countries are rolling out measures to stop Ebola from
spreading: South Africa on Thursday banned travellers from
Ebola-stricken countries from entering the country, and on Friday
Senegal announced it was closing its border with Guinea as a
preventative measure, while Chad said it had closed its border with
Nigeria.
Nigeria confirmed two new ebola cases on Friday - both spouses of
medical workers who had direct contact with Liberian-American Patrick
Sawyer, who flew into Nigeria last month with the virus and infected
11 others before he died in July. The male and female caregivers both
subsequently died of Ebola, after infecting their spouses.
PUNCH.
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