The Federal Government has postponed the fourth evacuation flight for stranded Nigerians in South Africa after engineers discovered cracks on the cockpit windscreen of the aircraft scheduled for the operation.
The defect forced officials to ground the aircraft as a safety precaution, delaying the evacuation of about 270 Nigerians who were due to return home.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the development on Wednesday through its spokesperson, Kimiebi Ebienfa, who said the fault was detected during routine pre-flight checks shortly before departure.
“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, apologising for the inconvenience.
The evacuation exercise was extended beyond the June 30 deadline earlier approved by President Bola Tinubu following continued xenophobic attacks targeting Nigerians in South Africa.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu had urged Nigerians at risk to take advantage of the evacuation programme, warning that the security situation showed no sign of improving.
Three evacuation flights have already been completed, while the postponed operation was expected to bring home another batch of stranded Nigerians.
The evacuation followed the recent killing of two Nigerians in South Africa, Emeka Charles Iroegbu in Pretoria and Musa Yunana Joe, popularly known as Big Joe, in Witbank, Mpumalanga.
Despite the delay, the ministry assured that another Air Peace aircraft would be deployed to Johannesburg to complete the operation as soon as possible, reaffirming the Federal Government’s commitment to protecting Nigerians abroad.