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Some officials of Tap Portugal Airline at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) on Saturday, December 23, 2017 allegedly manhandled three young ladies who were scheduled to join the company’s flight from Accra to Sao Tome and Principe for a Christmas vacation.

The alleged victims, Ms Evelyn Agyekum, Ms Ekua Semuah Odoom and Ms Afua Peprah Odoom who were to travel on the flight at 3:55 Saturday afternoon were said to have been handpicked by some check-in staff of the airline to reschedule their flight to the next day so as to make room for some Caucasian passengers.

According to one of the victims, Ms Agyekum, they first checked in at the Airport at about 11:30 am to complete departure formalities, having purchased their tickets in July 2017, and were sent an email reminder by officials of the airline concerning the trip.

She told Graphic Online that the three of them went through the immigration and security departure formalities at the Airport and were issued with a boarding pass by an official of the airline.

Ms Ayekum said that the flight however delayed till about 5:30 pm when the airline officials started boarding procedures.

She said that while they sat at the boarding waiting area, some four officials of the airline approached two of them, whom they handpicked and asked that they reschedule their flight to the next day, Sunday December 24, 2017 since the flight was overbooked.

“We however resisted what we felt was an apparent discrimination and racism being displayed by officials of the airline, however, they called in four officials from the airport security and accused us of stealing the boarding pass”, Ms Agyekum stated.

“The security officials joined the airline staff to grope and molest us by dragging us from the waiting area in an embarrassing manner, while other passengers filmed the incident with their mobile phones”, she narrated.

She said, an online complaint filed by one of them to the airline about the incident has been left unattended to.

The victims have since lodged a complaint of assault against the security official as well as officials of the airline at the Airport Police Station where they were issued with a medical form.

A medical report signed by Dr Frank Osei Adenkyekye of the 37 Military Hospital indicated that Ms Agyekum sustained injuries on the forearm and upper limbs as a result of the assault.

The Divisional Commander at the Airport Police Station, Chief Superintendent Isaac Kojo Asante, when contact, said he was yet to be briefed about the incident.

The Ghana Country Manager of Tap Portugal, Mr Edwin Lawson however told Graphic Online that, although the incident came to his attention via social media, the victims prefer that the issue be handled by their lawyers, as such “we have also referred it to our lawyers to handle it at that level”, Mr Lawson said.