By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, June 23: All 12 Sarawakians stranded in Nigeria have safely arrived at Kuching, Miri and Sibu today.
One of them, Malcolm Goh told DayakDaily that out of the 12 of them, four are from Kuching, another four from Miri and the rest, Sibu.
Goh, who was stranded in Nigeria due to Covid-19 pandemic for almost four months, touched down before 6pm and is now being quarantined at one of the local hotels.
He said he will have to stay at the hotel for a few nights pending the result of Covid-19 test. He can only proceed to return home if the result comes back negative.
“Thanks to Malaysia High Commission in Abuja, Wisma Putra, Sarawak Government, friends and family who helped and supported us.
“I feel great and can’t believe I have not been back for almost five months but at the same time, I am quite disappointed that some couldnt make it for this flight.
“There is another flight on July 10 for Malaysian in Nigeria and hope they can be back soonest,” said Goh.
DayakDaily had earlier reported that the Malaysian High Commission had made flight arrangements for the Sarawakians to depart from Lagos to Dubai on June 22.
As not all Malaysians were able to board the same flight home due to their locality and sudden flight arrangements, Minister of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives and Santubong MP Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said Malaysian High Commission was looking into arranging for another flight to bring the remaining Malaysians home.
Their plight was thrust under the spotlight on June 2 after Goh sent out a desperate SOS through his Facebook account seeking repatriation from Lagos, Nigeria.
Goh’s message caught the attention of Dr Sim who then intervened by requesting Putrajaya to arrange for an evacuation flight for the stranded Malaysians.
While arrangements were made for them to board a flight on May 31, the attempt failed as the Malaysian High Commission in Nigeria could not get approval from the government of Nigeria.
Since then, both the Sarawak and federal governments had immediately acted to negotiate with the Nigerian government and come up with a solution to bring the Malaysians home.— DayakDaily
