The family of Remilekun Toyosi Meshioye, the Nigerian lady who was said to have died aboard EgyptAir has demanded for her body to be returned to Nigeria by EgyptAir at their own expenses and that all her luggage be returned to Lagos where she boarded the plane on Monday 4th of September.
A statement signed by Mrs Olufunmilola Olaniyi-Alabi, elder Sister to Remilekun said the Airline did not inform them, but rather they got a message from the consular office in Cairo informing them of her death on board the flight.
Olaniyi-Alabi noted in the statement that her sister Remilekun Toyosi left Lagos for the UK on Monday at 14:00 via Egyptair line and eventually died between her transit from Lagos to Cairo according to the little information they got.
She narrated that: “We 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 they quickly cut it.
It was only once that a man picked the call that we put through to 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 continued that: “It was at this point that we intensified our efforts as regards trying to get in touch with EgyptAir.
My husband and I reside in Leeds, UK, so we 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 Nigeria Embassy have 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 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”.
Mrs Olaniyi-Alabi narrated further that: “EygptAir further said that only Nigeria embassy in the person of Mr Saliu as a Nigerian Consular will be able to write and demand for what happened on plane and at airport to Remilekun and request for all her belongs 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.
As a family of Remilekun , we are demanding for her body to be return back to Nigeria by EgyptAir at their own expenses and they should returned all her luggages back to Lagos where she boarded the plane from on Monday 4th of September”.
