First flights from earthquake zone bringing injured Finns home
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As the number of casualties in Sunday’s catastrophic earthquake in the countries bordering the Andaman Sea and Indian Ocean continues to rise inexorably, the first evacuation flights bringing Finns home from the region arrived at Helsinki-Vantaa International on Monday night and in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
The first Finnair flight from Phuket, carrying 219 passengers, some of them injured, touched down just after 8 p.m. None required immediate hospital attention, but treatment for lacerations and bruises was started immediately in the airport arrivals hall. Officials and paramedics at this end had been prepared for the worst, as precise details of those on board and their possible injuries were not available until shortly before the aircraft landed.
The vast majority of the arrivals were naturally shocked and physically exhausted. Some were clad in only what they had been wearing at the moment when the tidal waves hit the shore.
They arrived in a chilly Finland in their tropical beach clothes and nearly barefoot, having lost all their belongings in Sunday morning’s disaster.
In some cases, they reported that hotel officials in Thailand had not permitted guests to go back to collect belongings or valuables, owing to the danger that buildings weakened by the flood waters could collapse at any moment.
In the early hours of the morning a further three flights came in to Helsinki from Thailand.
Two brought an additional 300 Finns and 100 Swedish tourists from Phuket. The third was a scheduled Finnair arrival from Bangkok, which was also carrying around two dozen passengers from the affected area.
The first flight back from Colombo in Sri Lanka touched down at around 9:30 this morning.
The next evacuation flights back are to be expected late tonight. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Finnish travel operators have agreed jointly that all Finns wishing to return home will be brought out on these evacuation flights - which are being run on a non-stop basis at present. This includes also those tourists not on package holiday trips to major tourist destinations.
Finnish medical teams have already been sent on the first outgoing empty aircraft, and they will be able to determine the urgency with which returnees are sent home. Four children coming in in the early hours of this morning were taken to hospital, but the injuries of others did not require immediate hospital treatment.
Among the arrivals was one 13-year-old boy who had been separated from his parents.
Two to three flights a day are expected from the area throughout this week, and the intention is to get the great majority of passengers home by Friday.
The Foreign Ministry has requested that Finnish citizens in Phuket follow the instructions of consular officials and travel operator representatives for their evacuation, and has instructed relatives here in Finland to pass the message that Finns should move to the evacuation centres at Phuket Town Hall and the Orchid Resort Hotel in Karon Beach, Phuket, from where they will be directed to the airport.
Many of the tourists have lost everything, including documentation. Consular officials sent from Bangkok are providing temporary citizenship papers in the event that passports have been lost.
Helsingin Sanomat
