Families hire charter plane to fly home Aussies stranded on ‘death ship’
Desperately concerned family members of the 235 Australians stranded on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean have secured the funds they need to save them from coronavirus-hit Italy. Tory Archbold’s mother Greta, 70, is one of those Aussies (pictured).
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Desperately concerned family members of the 235 Australians stranded on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean have secured the funds they need to save them from coronavirus-hit Italy.
The Costa Victoria, which is docked in Civitavecchia in Italy, northwest of Rome, and 90 minutes away from Rome airport, has been denied entry into ports in Croatia, the UAE and Israel.
However just days earlier, authorities on the Costa Victoria were provided with a potential solution to the families’ problem.
Families of the stranded Australians secured a private charter to bring the 235 citizens home.
On Sunday they received verbal confirmation they could board the chartered Qatar flight bound for Perth, via the Qatar capital of Doha.
The Australian passengers have been locked in their 11 sqm windowless cabins for the past six days, with dwindling food and medical supplies, since being informed a passenger on board had been hospitalised in an unscheduled stop in Crete.
Most of the Australian passengers are over 60 and therefore in the high-risk category for getting seriously ill from COVID-19 if they enter Italy, the current epicentre of the global virus.
They have had limited Wi-Fi connection to speak with their families and mostly just have TV to inform then if what is happening in the world.
Some of the passengers have said the conditions as worse than being in a prison cell as they are not allowed outside for fresh air.
Their trip home will be of no cost to Australian taxpayers, as the Costa Victoria has confirmed it will pay all travel expenses for the passengers to get home.
Family members said they have got the required tax invoice and a chartered plane ready to go.
“We have a plane,” said Tory Archbold, whose mother Greta, 70, is one of 235 Australians stranded on board, before the news they could board came through.
“We just need the Italians to agree.”