SAN FRANCISCO, August 11, (THEWILL) – A Nigerian man travelling to Accra, Ghana, slumped and died at the departure hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria’s financial hub, minutes before his flight on Monday.
His death occurred just as new Aviation Minister, Osita Chidoka was taking his first official tour of the airport.
The traveller identified as Akunne Osei, a Nigerian resident of Ghana, arrived Nigeria over the weekend for business, according to aviation officials.
News of his death sent panic amongst travellers at the airport over fears that he may have contracted the deadly Ebola virus. The man however tested negative to tests conducted by health officials at the airport.
General Manager, Corporate Communications, Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Yakubu Dati, said the passenger took ill on Saturday August 9 with diarrhea.
“When the situation got worse, he called his doctor in Accra who instructed him to return to Ghana immediately for further treatment,” Dati said.
“During boarding formalities for his return trip to Accra, Osei, who had obviously become weak at this time, was subjected to Ebola Virus test by port health officials, the result of which was negative. No further attention was paid to him after his Ebola Virus result read negative but the passenger later slumped and died around the port health office,” he added.
The Nigerian government last week declared an emergency on the Ebola outbreak presently ravaging West Africa.
Lagos has witnessed ten confirmed cases of the virus with two fatalities so far, Patrick Sawyer, the infected Liberian-American man that brought the virus to Lagos, and a female nurse that had primary contact with him at the First Consultant Hospital where he was first treated before his isolation.
