Nigerian woman dies aboard Ethiopian plane

Addis Ababa — A Nigerian, Hajiya Zainab Suleiman, 62, on Sunday died onboard an Ethiopian Airlines’ flight from Addis Ababa to Abuja.

The deceased’s husband, Alhaji Suleiman Abdulra’uf, a Kano-based businessman, told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, correspondent in Addis Ababa that they were returning from New Delhi, when they transited to Addis Ababa and boarded another plane for onward journey back to Nigeria.

“We travelled to New Delhi for treatment. She was discharged and on our way back, we stopped over here in Addis Ababa where we changed plane, but one and a half hours after take-off, she died and the plane returned to Addis Ababa,” Abdulra’uf said.

He described the death of his wife as the will of God.

He said the corpse had been deposited at a morgue, while Ethiopian immigration and airline officials were making necessary arrangement for its transportation to Nigeria.

He said he took the deceased to New Delhi for a cancer treatment.

Some senior officials of the Nigerian Embassy in Ethiopia, headed by Mr. John Ejinaka, the Charge de Affairs of the embassy, had on Monday met with the deceased’s husband at the Chancery in Addis Ababa.

Another Nigerian was also reported to have died last week onboard an Ethiopian Airline plane from Abuja to New Delhi.