253 Nigerians evacuated from UK arrive Lagos

TRACKING____No fewer than 253 Nigerians evacuated from the United Kingdom (UK) by the Federal Government arrived the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, aboard a British Airways flight, yesterday.

The evacuees were the second batch in a series of evacuation scheduled to bring about 4,000 stranded Nigerians back home.

The British Airways aircraft, Boeing 747 BA9155 with registration Number G-CIVO, touched down Lagos Airport at 1.45pm.

The Guardian learnt that the evacuees were kept onboard the aircraft for over 30 minutes and later disembarked through a motorised gangway rather than the avio-bridge.

The travellers, after the usual temperature screening by officials of the Port Health Services, were led into luxurious buses onward to a designated special isolation centre.

Officials of the Lagos State government, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and other partners in the evacuation process were on ground to ensure a seamless facilitation of the evacuees.

The same aircraft that brought in the Nigerian evacuees also repatriated 215 British nationals from the airport about three hours later.

The first batch of 262 Nigerian evacuees were flown into the country last Wednesday from Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through the Lagos Airport.

There are about 4000 Nigerians awaiting evacuation from 67 countries. A schedule released by the Foreign Affairs Ministry showed that another batch would arrive on Sunday, May 10, from the UK, while on Monday, May 11, Ethiopian Airline would airlift those coming from United States of America.