Houston Conference Canceled After West African Travelers Denied Visas - DELAYED UNTIL NEXT JULY

October 15, 2014 10:00 AM



(credit: CBSDFW.COM)

HOUSTON (CBSDFW.COM) – The organizers of a global safety conference in Houston say they have been forced to postpone the event after delegates from West Africa were denied their visas. The event, the OSHAssociationUSA Safety Conference and Exhibition, was scheduled to take place at NRG Center this week. But Press Secretary Jane Smith says that 209 delegates from Nigeria were unable to secure visas for the trip.

“West Africa was planning on bring in about 209 delegates,” said Smith, “but as of last week Thursday none has been issued visa. And today we called more delegates to see if they had gotten visa — they told us that they have been denied visa.”

Smith says the group had no choice but to postpone the conference until July 15-17, 2015.

Smith believes that U.S. officials denied the visas due to the Ebola scare in West Africa. “Nigeria is one of the countries in West Africa that reported Ebola virus death,” said Smith.

According to the CDC, all people who were sick with Ebola in Nigeria have now either died or have recovered. The country is still under a Level 1 precaution travel notice, which the CDC says could be removed if no further cases are reported in Nigeria.

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