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Journalist stranded in Turkey en route to cover football for regional publisher

Rahman Osman 2022A journalist has found himself stranded in Istanbul while en route to cover an African football tournament for a regional publisher.

JPIMedia sports journalist Rahman Osman is currently stuck in Turkey due to snowstorms as he attempts to make his way to Cameroon to report on the Africa Cup of Nations.

Rahman arrived in Turkey on Sunday but missed his connecting flight to Yaounde, Cameroon’s capital city, by 10 minutes after the flight was delayed by an hour due to the adverse weather conditions.

He has since spent time in a hotel in the town of Celtik, 60 miles from Istanbul, but has now returned to Istanbul in the hope flights are allowed to resume.

Rahman, pictured, is originally from Ghana and joined JPI last year. He writes for titles including the publisher’s city ‘World’ series, as well as its NationalWorld website.

In a first-person piece filed from the airport this morning, Rahman wrote of how he had “become some sort of leader” for those in the same situation as him.

He added: “I spoke to Turkish Airlines staff, and they confirmed that all flights were cancelled and we were even lucky to be in the airport – if we had been outside we would have been stuck.

“I asked when the next flight would be, and she said the earliest would be on 26 January – three days after I had left London – even though improved weather could mean an earlier flight.

“Passengers were furious, as Turkish Airlines said it would not provide a hotel – as this was a natural disaster.

“My editor suggested I get a hotel, but at this point I had become a helpline to five people who followed me around, and leaving them would hurt my conscience.

“So I grabbed a few pillows from the business class area of the airport, and we made beds on the floor.”