The stranded Nigerian miners
Nigerian miners left stranded in a remote village in the Central African Republic (CAR) will arrive in Abuja today, TheCable can report.
Sources familiar with the rescue of the miners disclosed that the group is expected to arrive aboard Asky Air at about 5pm on Thursday.
They are being accompanied by Abdurahman Idris Baba Yola, an official of the Nigerian ministry of foreign affairs based in Bangui, CAR’s capital city.
BACKGROUND
Advertisement
In a viral video last month, the miners made a distress call, alleging that they were abandoned and maltreated by a Chinese mining company that recruited them for work in the French-speaking African country.
The video showed six men appealing to Nigerians to help spread their message and draw attention to their plight. They identified their location as Senye, a village in the Bambari region of CAR.
The miners further alleged that their recruiters confiscated their passports, limiting their freedom of movement in the country.
Advertisement
Responding to the video, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) said it had begun engaging relevant authorities to secure the group’s safe evacuation from the remote mining site.
Roughly a week later, the agency announced that the men had been successfully moved to the Nigerian embassy in Bangui.
At the time, NiDCOM said it would process emergency travel documents to supplement their flight tickets for their return to Nigeria.
However, TheCable understands that the ministry of foreign affairs has now retrieved the miners’ passports.
Advertisement
