Aussies to charter $300,000 jet to flee Peru after GoFundMe campaign

Two Aussies plan to charter a plane to get them and 187 other foreigners out of Peru after launching a GoFundMe campaign.

Tourists trapped at Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima, Peru.

A pair of Australians stranded in Peru are close to locking in a chartered plane from the US to get them and 187 other foreigners out of South America, launching a fundraising page to help cover the cost of almost $300,000.

Victorian chef Emily Jennings, who was due to finish a month-long holiday on Thursday but has instead been in lockdown in the capital of Lima, said she and her best friend hoped to be flying out on the plane on Saturday after launching a GoFundMe campaign.

“We’ve now spent the last 15 hours organising our own private charter, and we’re almost there,” Ms Jennings said in a phone call from Lima. “The private charter we’ve had to get to come over from America is a 189-seat plane.

“We’ve now been on the phone (and) Facebook pages with other people who are trapped here, trying to get them on board. So we’re almost there.”

She said they had unsuccessfully sought help from the Australian government and were frustrated by the lack of assistance.

But Australian officials on Thursday encouraged people seeking to leave Peru to contact local charter flight company Chimu Adventures.

Australians in Bolivia have also been told that a charter flight has been organised by Magri Turismo to take people from La Paz to Brazil, where they may be able to get airfares back to Australia.

More than 100 Australians remain trapped in Peru alone. Many more are stranded across South America, Europe and parts of the Middle East following airport closures and the shutting of borders because of coronavirus crisis.

In Ecuador, Central Coast woman Delia Maria said she, her husband and two children had been trying to get out of South America since the panic-buying of goods in Australia began making headlines in the Spanish-language press last week.

“The country is in lock-down,” Ms Maria said. “They closed all airports without much notice. As soon as they did that the airlines cancelled their flights.

“Scott Morrison and DFAT and all consulates and embassies here in South America are not providing support.”

She said they had saved money for two years so their children, aged 7 and 9, could make their first international holiday, meet family members for the first time and have a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Galapagos Islands.

Instead, they cancelled the Galapagos Islands tour and tried to fly back to Australia, to no avail.

“At the moment, with curfew laws, the guards that were protecting the place where we live are no longer able to come,” Ms Maria said. “So people know that there are Australians in here and we don’t have guards to keep us safe.

“We are scared as the crime here is high … so I will take turns with my husband (to see) if someone tries to break in.”

Ms Jennings said she had travelled to South America with her best friend to celebrate her 40th birthday and was about to go on a tour of Machu Picchu when they learned that Chile was closing its borders.

Ms Jennings said they quickly resolved to get out of Peru before the borders closed. They booked airfares from Cusco to Los Angeles via Lima.

But by the time they landed in Lima, they were told the Los Angeles flight was cancelled.

“On Monday, we spent most of the day at the airport in line trying to get tickets out,” she said. “Tickets sold out before we could get any.”

She said the city feels as though it is under martial law, with police and soldiers on the streets and strict curfews in place.

“I feel the public is already turning on us,” she said. “We’ve had some abuse hurled at us, because we’re out. I’m blonde, I’m fair, I clearly look like a tourist. So, we’re scared.”