- Title: 'So happy, relieved': Evacuation plane from Lebanon arrives in the Netherlands
- Date: 4th October 2024
- Summary: EINDHOVEN, NETHERLANDS (OCTOBER 4, 2024) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE ARRIVING WITH REPATRIATION FLIGHT FROM BEIRUT AND BEING HUGGED BY RELATIVES WAITING FOR THEM IN EINDHOVEN AIRPORT NETHERLANDS RESIDENT CHAOUKI ALKOURY ARRIVING ALKOURY AND HIS WIFE WILLY ALKOURY HUGGING (SOUNDBITE) (English) DUTCH CITIZEN, WILLY ALKOURY, STANDING NEXT TO HER HUSBAND CHAOUKI ALKOURY, WHO JUST SPENT THREE MONTHS IN LEBANON TO VISIT FAMILY, SAYING: "(We're) husband and wife. He was in Lebanon, was not able to get out. He tried and he tried with several tickets, but every time the flight got cancelled. And then this option (to be repatriated by the Dutch government) came up, so we're very grateful, honestly, yes. It's so nice to have him back and safe." (SOUNDBITE) (English) NETHERLANDS RESIDENT, CHAOUKI ALKOURY, WHO JUST SPENT THREE MONTHS IN LEBANON TO VISIT FAMILY, SAYING: "The last ten days it was terrible. The last ten days nobody could sleep at night. Bombs everywhere, sounds of the airguns everywhere...and people are dying. We have to help the people, we have to do something, whatever you can. So many innocent people died. What can we do? It's terrible." AIRPORT EMPLOYEE GIVING SIGNS PILOTS PARKING PLANE LADDER TRUCK APPROACHING AIRCRAFT PLANE'S DOOR OPENING VARIOUS OF PEOLE GETTING OUT OF PLANE PEOPLE MAKING SELFIES PASSENGERS FROM REPATRIATION FLIGHT WALKING IN ARRIVAL HALL ELENA EL KALAANI AND HER HUSBAND RODRIGUA ABI TAYAH KISSING EL KALAANI AND ABI TAYAH SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) DUTCH CITIZEN, ELENA EL KALAANI, SAYING: "He went one month to go and see family (in Lebanon) and it was not possible to get a ticket (back) anymore. We booked three different ones and they all got cancelled, so we're really, really lucky that the Netherlands is doing this for us." VARIOUS OF PASSENGERS WALKING TOWARDS ARRIVAL HALL (SOUNDBITE) (English) DUTCH CITIZEN, ELENA EL KALAANI, SAYING: "(I'm) so happy, relieved. I cannot wait to go home." REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE IRISH EMBASSY IN THE NETHERLANDS SPEAKING TO IRISH CITIZENS (SOUNDBITE) (English) IRISH CITIZEN WHO WENT TO LEBANON TO MARRY HER FIANCE, GHADIR ZABAD, SAYING: "We've been talking for around five years, but I wasn't ready for anything serious because I was in college. So I wanted to finish that first. And I just finished my masters, so I decided, you know, It was well time to go down and have a wedding and stuff like that. But, yeah, we had the wedding, it wasn't great, the bombs and everything..." ZABAD SHOWING A PICTURE OF HER WEDDING ZABAD WATCHING HER PHONE ZABAD SHOWING PICTURES OF HER WEDDING ZABAD'S FATHER SHOWING PICTURE OF ZABAD AND HER HUSBAND SAYING GOODBYE IN BEIRUT ON FRIDAY (OCTOBER 4) SOUNDBITE) (English) IRISH CITIZEN WHO WENT TO LEBANON TO MARRY HER FIANCE, GHADIR ZABAD, SAYING: "We tried to bring him to Ireland, we talked to the Irish embassy, but they were like: just go back to Ireland and try to get a visa from there. So we had to leave him behind. It's not what I wanted to do, but it's what had to happen, so..." VARIOUS OF ZABAD AND HER FAMILY LEAVING VARIOUS OF EINDHOVEN AIRPORT
- Embargoed: 18th October 2024 22:51
- Keywords: Israel Lebanon Palestinians repatriation
- Location: EINDHOVEN, NETHERLANDS
- City: EINDHOVEN, NETHERLANDS
- Country: Netherlands
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA001945604102024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:185 passengers arrived at Eindhoven airport on Friday evening (October 4) after the Netherlands organised a repatriation flight from Lebanon.
The plane carried more than 100 Dutch citizens, but also people of Irish, Belgian and Finnish nationalities.
24-years-old Ghadir Zabad from Ireland told Reuters that she had flown to Lebanon three weeks earlier to marry her fiancee on September 21. "We had the wedding, but it wasn't great, with the bombs and everything", she said after arriving in Eindhoven.
Elena El Kalaani from the Netherlands, on the other hand, had an emotional reunion with her husband Rodrigua Abi Tayah, who after having spent one month in Lebanon didn't manage to get a commercial flight back home.
"We booked three different ones and they all got cancelled, so we're really, really lucky that the Netherlands is doing this for us", she said. "I'm so happy, relieved. I cannot wait to go home."
The Netherlands is organising a second repatriation flight from Beirut on Saturday (October 5).
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