2 STUDENTS BACK HOME FROM UKRAINE

MBABANE – Two students have safely made it back home from Ukraine.

This was confirmed by the  Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Thuli Dladla,who said Kabawo Sithole and Simphiwe Ntshalintshali landed at the King Mswati III International Airport just after 5.30pm yesterday. These are the first students who have been able to make it back home so far.  The minister said over 50 students had also safely made it out of Ukraine into neighbouring countries and were waiting for their turn to board a plane back home.  We cannot give an exact figure as they cross at different times and some might be still making their way to the border as we speak. It is a continuous process and the exact number will only be confirmed once we know that they are in one area, but we can confirm that they are above 50,” said the minister.

She said about 28 students had already made it to Romania while others were still struggling to make it to Poland as the queues were extremely long. She said the students were now opting to use the Hungary border which was said to have less queues. The minister also confirmed that about nine students had already made it to Hungary and were safely accommodated in hotels. “Poland has become a very difficult border to use so others will be using Hungary and some Slovakia,” she said. According to the minister, as far as she knew, the flow of traffic was better in Hungary even though it was slowly starting to be congested. “Poland has been congested since day one but we are happy that a lot of the students have made their way out of harm’s way while others are still travelling towards the different borders,” added the minister.

Moving forward, the minister said the plan was to get the students back home in groups of 14 at the end of the week between Friday and Saturday. She said government had paid for the plane tickets. In an interview with one of the students yesterday, she said with regards to their studies some of their universities had said classes would continue online. “The only challenge we have right now is how exams will be written for third and sixth-year students but we are yet to get further information,” the student said.

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