Some Ghanaians and other African nationals affected by the recent earthquake in Turkey are stranded at Gaziantep Oğuzeli airport with no help in sight.
The stranded passengers are part of evacuees leaving Gaziantep to Ankara for shelter and safety.
Narrating his ordeal to Business Week on the phone, a Ghanaian living in Turkey’s Gaziantep province who only gave his name as Abbey said, he and other affected victims were asked to go to the Gaziantep airport to be airlifted to Ankara. However, since Sunday morning (February 12,) when they got to the airport, they are yet to board any of the allocated flights to Ankara.
We have been here since Sunday morning and up till now, we have not been airlifted even though we have tickets,” he lamented.
He recounted that they were issued a 10am ticket to depart to Ankara but they were denied boarding because priority was given to children and the aged. They were then rescheduled for an afternoon flight but then again, they were refused with the excuse that they did not have a Turkish passport.
This excuse apparently infuriated the African nationals which nearly resulted in a commotion but they were assured of an evening flight to calm them down but that was not honoured either.
They rather boarded people who were not in the queue and left us stranded throughout the night,” he said.
“I personally took videos and pictures of the incidents but I was forced by the Turkish police to delete them”, he narrated.
On Monday morning when they availed themselves for boarding, they were told their tickets had expired.
We joined the queue this morning for boarding only to be told that our tickets have expired, we even requested to buy the tickets but they won’t sell to us,” Abbey cried.
“We have been told to come back tomorrow (Tuesday) morning for our flight, but we are just afraid they might maltreat us again,” he feared.
According to Abbey, the Ghana embassy only advised them to find their own means to Ankara with an assurance that cost incurred will be refunded.
After registering us, we were asked by the embassy to leave and when we get to Ankara, we would be refunded, but we can’t trust them,” he said.
“If the Turkish government is taking care of its own, why can’t our country also come to our aid?” he asked.
He pleaded with Ghanaian embassy in Turkey to come to their aid as a matter of urgency because they are in dire need.
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit southern Turkey early Monday and was felt across Syria, Jordan, and Israel, among other neighboring countries.
Preliminary information from the U.S. Geological Survey indicates the quake originated in Gaziantep, which is located in
Turkey’s southeastern region and is a major provincial capital.Stranded evacuees at Turkey's Gaziantep Oğuzeli airport#earthquakeinturkey #Turkey pic.twitter.com/MHQEAisuFY
— Businessweekghana (@Businessweekgh1) February 13, 2023
It was centered approximately 11 miles deep, according to USGS. A strong 6.7 temblor rumbled about 10 minutes later.
The extent of possible infrastructure damage, injuries, and possible deaths remains unclear at this time.
The earthquake has broken Turkey’s landscape and traumatised an already-troubled nation that had been preparing to celebrate its centenary this year.
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