By Adesina Soyooye
Ordinarily, the birth of a baby brings joy and merriment. It is infectious.
But for the over 200 Nigerians aboard an Emirates airline flight from Dubai to Nigeria, it was bad news.
The Nigerian government had arranged for the flight to evacuate Nigerians desirous of coming back to Nigeria due to the pandemic COVID-19.
The evacuation from the United Arab Emirates started Wednesday morning. But an hour into the flight, a young pregnant woman fell into labour, and gave birth to her baby on the flight.
The crew members were forced to abort the flight, and headed back to Dubai.
It was a kill-joy for the rest of the evacuees who had primed themselves for the trip back home. The flight left for Nigeria by 10.00am and made a u-turn into the flight.
It is not known if the un-named woman was due for delivery, or if her labour was induced by the flight.
Usually, women in an advanced stage of pregnancy are not allowed on board aircraft to avoid any incidents.
The Nigerian Government confirmed the abortion of the flight. At the time of writing this, it was not known whether the flight would head back to Nigeria immediately after dropping off mother and child, both of whom are in good health.
Nigerians Angry Over Use Of Foreign Airline
In another development, Nigerians are angry with the Federal Government over the use of foreign airlines to evacuate Nigerians from other countries.
They ask why a Nigerian owned airline was not contracted to evacuate its citizens from the UAE.
Nigeria, on Wednesday, undertook its first evacuation of citizens from another country -UAE – over the rampaging Coronavirus. Unfortunately, the flight was aborted mid-air over the birth of a baby on board.
But Nigerians are asking why Air Peace, for example, which already has flying rights to the UAE was not used for the evacuation. They insist it would have helped the airline, which like others, is badly affected by the ban on flights due to COVID-19.
Some felt it would have been pay-back time to the Airline, which Chairman, Allen Onyema, volunteered, at the airline’s expense, to rescue Nigerians from South Africa when Xenophobia reigned supreme there, with many Nigerians brutalized and their businesses, destroyed.
The airline also scored a first when it became the first Nigerian airline to fly directly to Isreal.
Recently, too, Air Peace helped the Nigerian Government to airlift 15 Chinese medical personnels and medical equipment from China.
It was, also, first for a Nigerian airline – flying directly to China from Nigeria.
The question is: Why was the airline’s wide-bodied aircraft, Boeing 777, not used for the UAE evacuation?
