Students who represent Nigeria in US stranded in Turkey

STUDENTS of Glisten International College, Abuja, have been reportedly stranded in Istanbul, Turkey following the failure of Turkish Airlines to airlift them back to Nigeria as scheduled.

The students whose ages range between 11 and 14, were subjected to harrowing experiences as they were made to sleep at the resting area of the airport terminal overnight with just blankets provided them by the management of the airline, rather than providing them standard hotel accommodation.

The students, who had gone to the United States to represent Nigeria in a competition few weeks ago, were forced to part with the sum of $40 each, totaling $880 before they could be allowed to sleep in the frozen condition at the airport.

Information gathered indicated that the students who had boarded Turkish Airlines flight from Abuja, Nigeria to US with a stopover at Istanbul Airport ran into problem with the return leg from US/Istanbul/Abuja of the flight.

According to a source, the flight from US to Istanbul was delayed for one hour by the same airline and as at the time the flight eventually departed US and arrived  Istanbul for the connecting flight, the Istanbul-Abuja flight had already departed.

The source said that when the team contacted the management of the airline in Turkey for a better accommodation, the airline declined, saying that they could not be responsible for their accommodation despite the fact the flight miss was not of their own making.

Following the development, the stranded students had been been abandoned to take care of their feeding, accommodation and other expenses

“Our pupils, students and instructors went to the US to represent Nigeria and were supposed to return on Monday, but missed the return leg to Nigeria because the flight from US, which is equally Turkish Airlines delayed their flight for an hour and by the time we got to Istanbul, the flight to Abuja had already departed.

“When that happened, we approached them for accommodation for our team, but the airline said they won’t be responsible for accommodation or feeding of our team. Rather, we were told to sleep at the resting room of the terminal and we had to pay from our purse, which negates the international standards.

“These are children between the ages of 11 and 15 years and are exposed to this harsh treatment. Could they have done that with their own citizens?  Or, will they allow any Nigerian carrier to do that to their citizens in Nigeria?  I am begging our government to take up this challenge because these kids went to represent Nigeria in the US,” a source declared.

As at the time of filing this report every effort made to get reactions from the airline office in Lagos failed.