TheCable

A Nigerian drug dealer has died at the Madrid-Barajas airport in Spain (pictured) after suffering from the bursting of ingested cocaine, but airport officials refrained from helping him because they thought he was suffering from Ebola.

According to Daily Mail, the man, whose name was not given, collapsed in the customs area of the airport on October 18 after arriving from an Istanbul flight.

But once staff learnt that he was Nigerian, they were too afraid to touch him and left him shivering on the floor.

Spanish newspaper El Mundo said the man died on 90 minutes after disembarking from the plane, due to a massive drugs overdose.

“A civil guard officer initially positioned the man on his side and identified him from personal documents,” it said.

“When it was clear he was a Nigerian, no one dared touch him. Medical staff decided immediately that there was a risk that this could be a case of Ebola.”

The newspaper said it took an hour before it could be established that the man was dying.

A passenger who flew with the Nigerian subsequently told the police that the deceased had flown from Madrid to Istanbul on October 14 and had not visited Nigeria in four years, consequently ruling out the possibility of Ebola.

It later transpired that the man was suffering the effects of a cocaine overdose after several bags of the drug burst in his stomach.

Close to 5,000 people are confirmed to have died from Ebola in West Africa and there are fears that unreported cases could even mean the figure is higher.