The whereabouts of a 37-year-old Nigerian woman who travelled to Qatar have remained unknown after she reportedly lost contact with her family shortly after arriving in Doha.
The woman, who left Lagos for Doha aboard Qatar Airways flight QR1408 on Tuesday, was last known to have communicated with her brother on WhatsApp shortly before the aircraft landed.
Michael Achimugu, Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, said on Saturday that he had contacted the airline over the case.
Achimugu said the airline reviewed its CCTV footage and confirmed that the woman arrived in Doha, retrieved her luggage and subsequently left the airport terminal.
“I have confirmed, via the airline, that CCTV shows your sister arrived safely, picked her bags, and exited the terminal,” he said.
The NCAA official said the next step was to establish whether she made it to the hotel she had booked before travelling to Qatar.
He explained that checks with Discover Qatar would be carried out to identify the hotel attached to her visa booking and determine whether she checked in.
According to him, the investigation had been slowed by the public holidays, but the checks would also establish whether she travelled from the airport to the hotel using the accommodation provider’s designated pick-up vehicle.
“In some cases, passengers arrive at the hotel booked, and then leave quietly. DISCOVER QATAR will check to confirm the name of her hotel, and whether your sister did, indeed, get to the hotel,” Achimugu said.
He added that concerns about possible human trafficking and forced labour had been brought to the attention of the airline.
“If she did not arrive at the hotel, a manhunt would ensue. It is easy to track people once they have arrived in Doha,” he said.
Achimugu, however, clarified that he was not handling the matter in an official capacity, but was assisting the woman’s family in trying to establish her whereabouts.
The woman’s brother, Jonathan Jibo, had raised the alarm on Friday through a post on X, saying he had been unable to reach her for more than 48 hours.
Jibo said his sister was visiting Qatar for the first time and did not have friends in the country. He added that her accommodation had been secured and paid for months before her departure.
He also said the person assigned to pick her up from the airport could not find her, despite the airline confirming that she had collected her luggage.
According to him, his sister had worked at Lagos airport for nearly 12 years and was scheduled to begin working in Doha weeks after her arrival.
“Till now I can’t reach her phone, online, I don’t even know what went wrong,” he wrote.
Jibo appealed to the Nigerian Embassy in Doha and other relevant authorities to intervene and help locate his sister.
In a subsequent update on Saturday, he said information about the case had been passed to the Nigerian President in Doha and subsequently forwarded to the Nigerian Embassy in Qatar.
He said the family expected to receive an update from the embassy on Monday, as the diplomatic mission was not operating over the weekend.
The family is now awaiting the outcome of checks with the hotel and other authorities to determine what happened after the woman left Doha airport.
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