The Air Peace chartered flight that was scheduled to evacuate Nigerians from Poland to Abuja on Thursday has been cancelled because the crew said they have gone beyond their duty limit.
About 2,090 Nigerians are set to be repatriated from Poland, Hungary, Romania and other Eastern European countries, following the war that erupted after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia a week ago.
Speaking from Poland, Ambassador Bolaji Akinremi, who is leading the delegation for the evacuation, said: “the reality is that the flight has been scheduled for tomorrow (Friday) morning.
“The real reason is because of the delay in doing the checking-in because they have to gather them (passengers) together from different hotels and by the time we would be ready after the checking-in, the crew that has been waiting since 9am had overshot the hour they should have waited.
“They have a duty hour which has been allocated to them and they have waited from 9am till 2pm. That means they have already waited five hours and they are going to have a 9-hour flight that is already more than the standard. So, the airport authorities said they won’t allow us to board. This is the reality.”
He, however, noted that arrangements have been made to ensure that all the Nigerians stay in the same hotel and they will leave on Friday.
Details shortly…
