THE Federal Government has postponed the fourth evacuation flight for stranded Nigerians in South Africa after a technical fault was detected on the aircraft scheduled for the operation.
News Point Nigeria reports that the development was announced on Wednesday by the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, who disclosed that the aircraft could not depart Johannesburg after engineers discovered cracks on the cockpit windscreen.
According to Ebienfa, the affected aircraft was immediately grounded as a safety precaution, while Air Peace has been directed to deploy another aircraft to South Africa to complete the evacuation exercise.
“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.
He also apologised for the inconvenience caused by the unexpected 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.
The minister disclosed that the evacuation programme was extended beyond the June 30 deadline earlier approved by President Bola Tinubu due to the continued wave of attacks against Nigerians.
She explained that three evacuation operations had already been successfully completed, while the fourth flight, initially scheduled to depart Johannesburg on Tuesday night with about 270 Nigerians on board, was expected to return another batch of stranded citizens to Nigeria.
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 both killings and called on the South African authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and ensure those responsible are brought to justice.
Despite the latest setback, government officials assured that another Air Peace aircraft would be dispatched to Johannesburg as soon as possible to complete the evacuation of the stranded Nigerians safely.
