Second chance for SA group stuck in Saudi Arabia after missing plane by hours

There is hope. After missing their first flight from Saudi Arabia by a matter of hours, stranded South Africans have another opportunity to return home.

The 40 South Africans have been forced to come back home after work dried up during lockdown in the Middle Eastern country.

At the weekend, Saudi Arabia reported more than 9,000 cases of Covid-19, with more than 90 deaths. Last month, entry and exit into the capital city, Riyadh, into Medina, Mecca and Jeddah were halted in a bid to stop spreading the coronavirus.

The South Africans had to take a 13-hour bus ride from Riyadh to Jeddah, where they were supposed to catch the special flight. But the group missed out as the flight left at 9am and they arrived in Jeddah just after midday. 

They are now pinning their hopes on a second flight that has been arranged for them. 

“Because of the road-travel curfew in Saudi Arabia, we were struggling to get permits in Riyadh,” Belinda Hammerse, who worked as a nurse in Saudi Arabia, told TimesLIVE.

“I'm a professional dialysis nurse and have done my final exit visa and clearance. I completed my first year in Saudi,” the woman from Eersterivier, Cape Town, said.

Hammerse said when the group arrived late in Jeddah, representatives of SA's consulate were waiting for them.

“They apologised, said sorry and that they had tried to delay the flight, but could not,” she said.

Hammerse said they would not lose their tickets and would return on a second flight to Johannesburg from Jeddah on Thursday.

“They will come back to us with the time.”

However, the group was asked to pay for their stay at the hotel for Tuesday and Wednesday.

“Most of the people were just tired because it was a stressful event for us with a lot of hurdles.”

Hammerse said she was told that when the group landed in SA, the members would spend 14 days in quarantine at a health facility in Johannesburg before being transported to Cape Town.

“There are no words of excitement that I have. I am very happy to be reunited with my family [soon]. I also want to thank our family and friends and the community for their prayers for us to have a safe trip.”

The department of international relations could not immediately confirm that a second flight had been arranged. 

“We are aware of them and doing everything in our power to get them back to South Africa,” spokesperson Lunga Ngqengelele said.