By YOSHIFUMI FUKUDA/ Staff Writer
May 27, 2020 at 18:16 JST
Taiwanese officials welcome compatriots at Narita Airport on May 26 after they were flown from Russia. (Yoshifumi Fukuda)
Ninety-six Taiwanese stranded in Russia for two months due to the COVID-19 pandemic headed home May 26 after arriving at Narita Airport earlier in the day on a Japan Airlines Co. aircraft that picked them up as a favor to Taiwan.
Most were students who got stuck in Russia due to the suspension of international flights following the spread of the virus there.
“The parents of the students in Taiwan must be relieved as they were worried about their children,” said Hsieh Chang-Ting, the representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan, which effectively serves as an embassy. “I am grateful to JAL for cooperating with us.”
Thirty Japanese were also on the flight.
After Taiwanese authorities requested JAL’s help to fly people back to Taiwan, the airline agreed.
It then rerouted a flight scheduled to transport cargo from Helsinki to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport to fly from Helsinki to Narita Airport via Moscow.
The aircraft landed at the airport just after 11 a.m. and Hsieh and other Taiwanese officials greeted their compatriots.
The Taiwanese travelers then took another JAL flight from Narita Airport to Taiwan.
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