Stranded UK tourists wait for news on charter flights
Hundreds of thousands of UK citizens stranded abroad face an anxious wait for details of rescue flights to be announced.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has set aside £75 million to charter flights from destinations where commercial routes have been severed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Repatriation flights operated from Peru and Tunisia on Tuesday, but details of further flights have not been revealed.
On March 23, the FCO advised all UK residents who were travelling abroad to return home.
We are aware that not everyone who wanted to leave Peru was able to. We understand this is a worrying time for them and we are committed to doing everything we can to support them during this period. Our consular services continue to be in operation 24/7 to provide support.
— UK in Peru 🇬🇧🇵🇪 (@UKinPeru) March 31, 2020
Hundreds of thousands of people have since travelled back on commercial flights, but transport secretary Grant Shapps estimates around 300,000 are still overseas.
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab said on Monday that only 1,400 UK nationals had been repatriated on flights chartered by the government.
In contrast, the German embassy in London told the Guardian that its government has brought home 42,000 German nationals from 60 countries on 160 charter flights over the past fortnight.
Among the British citizens waiting to be flown home are dozens in Peru.
Sophia Diaz Melendez, a 27-year-old NHS nurse living in Southampton, is struggling to travel back from the capital Lima.
She was allocated a seat on a repatriation flight but received her notification too late.
She said: “They (the FCO) sent me documentation about the flight 30 minutes before the deadline and I couldn’t get there because I’m staying far from the airport. It’s really frustrating – I feel like I’ve lost my chance.”
Many British travellers have reported being unable to reach airports because internal transport networks have been closed down as countries implement Covid-19 lockdowns.
Dustin Chen, 48, from London, is stuck in a remote Amazon lodge in northern Peru and is running out of medication.
UPDATE: The UK Government and the airline industry to fly home stranded British travellers.
➡️ Read our guidance: https://t.co/fX28Rj5pNk
➡️ Follow @FCOTravel for country updates#coronavirus | #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/W5k28aqSkz
— Foreign Office 🇬🇧 (@foreignoffice) March 30, 2020
He said: “I need to get a ground transfer permit to leave my location, where it is difficult to get prescribed medicine.
“The embassy told me to stay safe and wait, but since then no reply, even after making contact almost every day.
“My guide told me that a few days ago a bus passed by my lodge carrying two British tourists but no-one tried to arrange to pick me up. I really need to get to Lima to access medicine.”
Raab said that once flights have been chartered they will be promoted in the government’s travel advice and by embassies and high commissions in relevant countries.
He acknowledged the FCO has not “faced an international challenge quite like this before” but insisted “we are going to rise to it”.
We need your help ...
The coronavirus pandemic is changing our world, fast. And we will do all we can to keep bringing you news and analysis throughout. But we are worried about maintaining enough income to pay our staff and minimal overheads.
Now, more than ever, we need a vibrant, independent media that holds the government to account and calls it out when it puts vested economic interests above human lives. We need a media that shows solidarity with the people most affected by the crisis – and one that can help to build a world based on collaboration and compassion.
We have been fighting against an establishment that is trying to shut us down. And like most independent media, we don’t have the deep pockets of investors to call on to bail us out.
Can you help by chipping in a few pounds each month?
-
Show Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to leave a comment.Join the conversationPlease read our comment moderation policy here.