Afghan refugees made to wait nearly 30 hours at Birmingham Airport
Hundreds of refugees have been made to wait for almost thirty hours at Birmingham Airport after their plane landed from Afghanistan.
The plane that we understand landed on Tuesday afternoon (24th August) was held up with passengers waiting on board from midday until 8pm.
Refugees were then held within the airport for a further 20 hours.
It has been reported that passengers were not fed whilst stuck on the aircraft and sandwiches and water were all that was provided in the airport.
Birmingham Airport has said they are making every effort to coordinate this very complex and sensitive operation.
ITV News Central spoke to a man who had been in the airport for almost 28 hours at the time of the conversation.
He said: "I don't think we have any hope. I'm hopeless, simple as that."
"I'm cold, I have a headache and I don't know if I have a temperature or not, I haven't checked it.
I don't want to ask these people to check my temperature because I don't think they're going to help me."
An airport spokesperson said: “We are working tirelessly to support the humanitarian effort which we stood up at extremely short notice to assist the UK government and the thousands of people being repatriated into the UK from Afghanistan.
"Every effort is being made by the entire airport community, as well as voluntary, charity and government agencies, to coordinate this very complex and sensitive operation. However, the nature of the flights, with the added complexity that they are from a red list country carrying people who have been evacuated under extraordinary circumstances has meant that the arrival and border process has been lengthy at times, but has now improved and stabilised.
"We thank everyone involved so far for their hard work and kindness to provide food, water, blankets, baby products, clothing, toiletries and first aid support, and for putting passenger welfare at the centre of this emergency coordinated effort.”
The Foreign and Commonwealth office responded saying: "We take the welfare of those in our care incredibly seriously and are working round the clock to process all arrivals from Afghanistan as quickly as possible at airports, and so far we have evacuated 8,458 people.
"The Government operates robust and extensive border checks such as taking fingerprints, therefore the arrival process can take longer than usual.
However, all arrivals waiting are provided with food and drink and there is medical support on hand should anyone require it.“We are standing up other airports to distribute arrivals more equitably and speed up the process.”
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