FG DELAYS SOUTH AFRICA EVACUATION FLIGHT OVER FAULTY AIRCRAFT

The Federal Government has postponed the fourth evacuation flight for stranded Nigerians in South Africa after a fault was detected on the aircraft scheduled for the operation.

The development was announced on Wednesday by the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, who said the flight could not depart Johannesburg after engineers discovered cracks on the cockpit windscreen.

According to him, the affected aircraft was grounded as a safety precaution, while Air Peace has been directed to deploy another aircraft to complete the evacuation.

“We have a situation in Johannesburg, South Africa regarding the operation of the fourth evacuation flight. The flight couldn’t take off because cracks were discovered on the windscreen in the cockpit. Air Peace will deploy another aircraft to South Africa later today to bring the returnees,” Ebienfa said, while apologising for the inconvenience caused by the delay.

The postponement comes barely a day after the Federal Government announced what it described as the final phase of its evacuation exercise for Nigerians stranded in South Africa amid renewed xenophobic attacks and growing security concerns.

Earlier, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, had urged Nigerians who believed their lives were at risk to take advantage of the remaining evacuation flights, warning that the security situation in South Africa had shown no sign of improving.

She disclosed that the evacuation programme had been extended beyond the June 30 deadline earlier approved by President Bola Tinubu because of the continued attacks.

The minister said three evacuation operations had already been completed, while the fourth flight, initially scheduled to depart Johannesburg on Tuesday night with about 270 Nigerians, was expected to bring home another batch of returnees.

The evacuation exercise followed the recent killing of two Nigerians in South Africa; Emeka Charles Iroegbu, who was allegedly killed by officers of the Tshwane Metro Police in Pretoria, and Musa Yunana Joe, popularly known as Big Joe, who was shot dead outside his shop in Witbank, Mpumalanga.

The Federal Government had condemned the killings and called on South African authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and bring those responsible to justice.

Despite the delay, officials said another aircraft would be dispatched to Johannesburg to ensure the stranded Nigerians are evacuated as soon as possible.