UkraineCrisis | Tears of joy as 20 Jamaican students return home

WESTERN BUREAU:
There were tears of joy outside the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, St James Wednesday evening as 20 Jamaican students who were studying in the crisis-hit Ukraine, arrived from Frankfurt, Germany.

The students fled Ukraine amid tensions with Russia that escalated with a military invasion on February 24.

"You could see the relief on their faces, as soon as we were told that we are about to land in Jamaica," said a German traveller who identified himself only as Lukas.

Back in Frankfurt, he said a few of the students embraced each other, as they boarded the aircraft.

"I never knew who they were until we arrived in Jamaica," he said.

The students were greeted at the Sangster International Airport by State Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Leslie Campbell.

Only the state-run Jamaica Information Service was allowed in the VIP lounge for a brief welcome ceremony.

One of the students was met at the airport by her relatives.

She was escorted by the police and airport security to their waiting vehicle in the parking lot. 

The student and her parents declined to comment.

The others were taken on a bus through a private exit point.

The plight of the students grabbed national attention after the Jamaican government offered a loan for them to purchase their airline tickets to travel home.

The government has since said it is not offering loans.

The students were in Poland for the past two days after walking more than 20 kilometres from L'viv to the Polish border.

- Mark Titus and Albert Ferguson

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