TOUCHDOWN

AFTER 29 days of clamouring, begging and pleading with government to open the borders, a group of TT nationals who were stuck in Barbados for almost a month finally landed at Piarco Airport on Tuesday afternoon.

But before they can see their families, they will have to wait another couple of weeks, as they were put under mandatory quarantine at a step-down facility in Tacarigua.

The first group of about 16 people landed at about 2.08 pm on a One Caribbean chartered flight. Up to press time the remaining 17 were still expected to return later on Tuesday. The first group were taken to the National Racquet Centre step-down facility in Tacarigua on a PTSC bus.

Doctors checked them as soon as they arrived at there and they were given accommodation which they will use for at least the next 14 days.

Tight security kept prying eyes out of the centre, where members of the Defence Force were seen covering the fences with tarpaulin. The soldiers were accompanied by police. They were all armed and wore masks. Also seen were medical staff who quickly checked and sanitised the buses when the travellers arrived.

The group was expected to be repatriated to TT since early on Tuesday morning. At least half were due to arrive at 10 am. But on Tuesday morning they were told they had to be tested once more before leaving Barbados. The daughter of one of the returning Trinis said her mother expressed excitement on returning home, and did not mind having to be quarantined for another two weeks.

“She is just relieved to be home. She has been anxious to come home,” the relative said.

Her mother had said she was willing to be quarantined at the facility or anywhere else, as long as it was on home soil.

“Now that she is back, we are great. We are not sure when she would be home with us, but we are still overjoyed. It is just excitement for us, no tears.

“We are now still getting information as to what is the next step, if the facility is comfortable, and if we would be able to visit her.”

St Augustine MP Prakash Ramadhar, the group’s lawyer, was pleased at the return, but pointed out that the group from Barbados were not the only people stranded outside TT’s borders who wanted to return home. “I am relieved that some of the 33 have already arrived. I hope the quarantine that they have to undergo will be very short and still, hopefully, that they would be able to quarantine at their homes,” Ramadhar said. “We are grateful to all those who contributed to the effort to have them home. It is something that we should all breathe a sigh of relief (about). “But there are many others out there who wish to return and we must continue the effort to get them safely back to TT.”

The group of 33 left the country to go on a cruise from Dubai to South Africa on February 25, weeks before it was announced that the borders would be closed. The group included several retired nurses a former principal, retired teachers and former Petrotrin employees.

While they were on the cruise it was announced that the borders would be closed on March 23, and they clamoured to return to the country, but while on a flight they were told their plane would have to land in Barbados, because if they tried to land in TT they would be turned away. They landed in Barbados on March 24, the day after the borders closed.

They were taken in by the Barbadian Government but told they would have to choose between paying US$55 a night, at a hotel in Speightstown, or being accommodated at the army barracks.

Newsday tried to reach Minister of National Security Stuart Young, for a comment on the Trinis’ return, but calls to his cellphone and messages sent through WhatsApp went unanswered.