Nigerian minors between ages of 11 to 15 who are pupils and students of Glisten International College, Abuja were stranded at Istanbul Ataturk Airport, Turkey due to the failure of Turkish Airlines to airlift them back to Nigeria as scheduled.
It was gathered that the students, who were 22 in number, were abandoned at the instance of the airline, which did not provide them accommodation; rather, the airline forced them to sleep at the airport terminal and were given blankets to beat the severe cold.
Informed source said that the team who travelled to the United States to represent Nigeria in a competition few weeks ago, was forced to part with the sum of $40 each, totaling $880 before they could be allowed to sleep at the airport under the severe cold.
A source close to the school who confirmed the development said that the team had boarded Turkish Airlines flight from Abuja, Nigeria to US with a stopover at Istanbul Airport.
The airline on the return trip of the minors failed to airlift them as scheduled and did not provide them a befitting accommodation until when the airline was ready to take them back to Nigeria.
Informed source indicated that the flight from US to
Istanbul was delayed for an hour by the same airline and as at the time the flight eventually departed US and arrived at Istanbul for the connecting flight, the Istanbul-Abuja flight had already departed.
The source said that when the team contacted the management of the airline in Turkey for a better accommodation, the airline declined, saying that it could not be responsible for their accommodation despite the fact the airline was responsible for the flight delay, which made them to lose their flight to Abuja.
“Our pupils, students and instructors went to the US to represent Nigeria and were supposed to return on Monday, but missed the return flight to Nigeria because the flight from US, which is equally Turkish Airlines delayed their flight for an hour and by the time we got to Istanbul, the flight to Abuja had already departed.
When that happened, we approached them for accommodation for our team, but the airline said they won’t be responsible for accommodation or feeding of our team. Rather, we were told to sleep at the resting room of the terminal and we had to pay from our purse, which negates international regulations, as the airline ought to take care of its passengers in this circumstance.
“These are children between the ages of 11 and 15 years and are exposed to this harsh treatment. Could they have done that with their own citizens? Or, will they allow any Nigerian carrier to do that to their citizens in Nigeria? I am begging our government to take up this challenge because these kids went to represent Nigeria in the US.”
When contacted Turkish Airlines refused to react to the incident as the airline’s representative in Nigeria, KunmoCom PR, said that the mail sent to the airline’s headquarters in Istanbul was not replied.
