Nigeria’s female Under 20 team, the Falconet has been abandoned as they were caught on camera sleeping in the departure hall of the Istanbul airport in Turkey.
They have been there for over 20 hours, and by the time they depart the airport at 6.15pm on Wednesday, they would have spent close to 30 hours in that departure hall.
According to reports, they departed their hotel in Costa Rica at 6.30am local time on Monday, they were to travel via Colombia to Istanbul for the flight to Abuja. That simple journey has turned into a nightmare.
Sources said that the schedule on original ticket stated that the team would depart Colombia for Turkey at 4.30pm, following their early departure from Costa Rica. However the original airline booked, transferred them to Turkish Air, which led to some unclear timing; this included a delay in Colombia, and subsequently led them to missing the transit flight.
Even then, the source continue, some members of the contingent had tickets with a 23rd date and others had 24th. Some of the officials present with the team pleaded for accommodation; but the airline insisted that since they don’t have transit visas, they would not be allowed to step out of the airport.
However, officials of the team said their tickets were booked for Tuesday evening on Avianca.
But the Colombian flag carrier rebooked the team on Turkish Air leading to a four-hour delay in Colombia. That, coupled with a stop in Panama meant the team missed their Tuesday connection flight.
NFF’s Leader of Delegation Ruth David tried in vain to ask the airline for accommodation, but without transit visas, the pleas accomplished nothing and the team were forced to spend 24 hours at the airport awaiting their connecting flight to Abuja
But their struggles will not end when they arrive in Abuja. The players have been given N40 000 each as local transport allowance.
Meaning that after three days of grueling travel, they would have to travel by road (or train) from Abuja to whatever state their final destination is.