Stranded EU, Canadian, US citizens evacuated from Coast

More than 150 passengers from 20 different nations in Europe and America who have been stranded in Mombasa for months finally jetted out.

The travellers boarded a chartered KLM flight, which took off at 5.30pm on Friday for Schipol Airport, Amsterdam. 

The tourists have been stranded on the Kenyan coast since March after the Kenya government banned flights in the wake of the eruption of coronavirus pandemic. Most of the travellers were tourists, expatriate workers and investors who are now impoverished after close to three months without income.

Sources familiar with the repatriation flight said yesterday the passengers were to connect to their respective destinations from Amsterdam.

The flight is the second to leave Kenya after a similar one involving an Ethiopian airline that departed from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi last month, and flew with 200 passengers to Frankfurt, Germany.

Three honorary consuls based in Mombasa, Muhamed Ramazani (France), Lou Derick (Belgium) and Paul Krijnen (Netherlands) were on hand to offer consular support to the EU citizens and other nationals on the flight prior to boarding.

French national Patricia Bonzi, who was on a family holiday in Mombasa since January 2020, said she was delighted to leave for her home in Marseille with fond memories of Kenya.

''This is my home away from home. I shall be back when things improve,'' she said, as she prepared to board.

The European Union through its EU delegations around the world in 143 locations have carried out efforts to coordinate the repatriation of thousands of its nationals stranded abroad owing to travel restrictions.

The EU stated that there were 600,000 citizens stuck in different parts of the world who need to get home. So far, the EU has repatriated 590,000.