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US, Canada evacuate over 575 citizens from Nigeria

The United States of America and Canada on Monday evacuated 575 of their citizens from Nigeria due to the COVID-19 crisis.

The evacuation was carried out by Ethiopian Airlines through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

The US citizens who were about 375 in number, were evacuated to Washington DC with a Boeing 777-300 aircraft from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

Also evacuated by Ethiopian Airlines were 200 Canadians from Lagos and Abuja to Addis Ababa enroute Toronto with a Boeing 767.

Some of the passengers were airlifted from Lagos while others joined the flight from Abuja.

The US Consulate in a statement said additional flights were expected to depart Lagos within the next few days.

“Priority on repatriation flights is given to the elderly, individuals with serious health issues, unaccompanied minors, pregnant women, and physically challenged citizens,” the statement read in part.

It added that the US Department of State had coordinated the repatriation of 43,116 Americans from 78 countries.

Other countries had also started evacuating their citizens from Nigeria and other parts of the world.

In the series of evacuations by different countries, a Middle East Airlines flight had on Sunday evacuated 140 Lebanese from Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

About 637 Europeans were also evacuated on Friday through the MMIA, Lagos.

Isreal had also evacuated 274 of its citizens from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja to Tel-Aviv last week.

Meanwhile, Aero Contractors has said it will be reviewing its staff April salary by 50 per cent following suspension of flights due to the COVID-19 crisis.

The Chief Executive Officer of the airline, Capt. Ado Sanusi, in a notice to staff of the airline, said by the end of April, the minimum some staff would receive would be half salary, to assist in ameliorating the challenging times.

He also stated that the management of the airline was exploring all options including seeking bailouts or loans from the Federal Government and majority shareholders to assist with the payment of salaries should the suspension of operations exceed April.

 

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