Passenger Collapses, Dies At Airport

There was panic yesterday at the arrival hall of Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, when a passenger suddenly collapsed and died.

The late passenger, who has been identified as a Nigerian residing in Ghana, was said to have collapsed and died on the ground floor of the airport terminal while on his way to the Port Health Clinic located on the same floor where he was to obtain yellow fever immunization card, popularly known as Yellow Card.

A woman suspected to be a relation of the passenger was heard screaming, “C.K! C.K!”.

Unfortunately, everybody close to him took to their heels when the man collapsed out of fear that the man may have died of the dreaded Ebola virus.

The relation who was dressed in a black gown was seen from a distance standing by the corpse lying on the floor in front of the Port Health Clinic, covered in an orange cloth.

Reacting to the incident, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) said it “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 died at the Murtala Mohammad Airport, Ikeja, on his way back to Accra.

According to Yakubu Dati, spokesman of FAAN, “The passenger, Mr. Akunne 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, Mr. 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.”

He said the statement was necessary to forestall the possible dissemination of unfounded and misleading media reports on the unfortunate incident.

However, an airport worker who spoke to our correspondent said the man was on his way to India for medical treatment and added that the death of the man had caused panic among airport workers who were afraid to touch the dead body.