Spanish Embassy helps fly 70 Spaniards home from Poland to emotional scenes today

THERE were emotional scenes at Alicante-Elche Airport this afternoon as around 70 Spaniards finally arrived home from Poland to be reunited with their families amid the coronavirus pandemic.

A flight from Warsaw landed at 3pm with many students on board, after the Spanish Embassy arranged for them to fly on the only Polish airline currently operating since the State of Alarm began.

The majority of the passengers are Erasmus students from different parts of Spain who had contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressing “their desire to return home.”

Amongst the arrivals was the mother of a student from Alicante who has been stuck since March 3 having travelled to visit her daughter, a student at the University of Alicante, who decided to stay in Poland.

The woman said she is grateful for the “effort of the staff of the Spanish Embassy in Poland who did everything in their power to get her a place on a plane.”

She told Informacion the last few weeks have been difficult because her other two children were in Spain without her, which is why she was so keen to return.

The Polish airline LOT is the only one that currently has flights to Spain. It appears this ‘corridor’ is open to transport Poles who want to return to their country and in turn, bring back Spaniards who live or study in Poland.

The majority of the passengers were reportedly wearing masks and gloves and waiting relatives were on hand with anti-coronavirus kits.

The Spanish Service for the Internationalisation of Education (SEPIE) has asked the 1,000 Erasmus exchange students in European universities if they want to return to Spain, and if they need flights organising on their behalf.

On Monday and Tuesday, three flights are scheduled to arrive in Madrid from Italy with at least 30 students.

The Vice-Rector for International Relations, Juan Llopis, said they are in regular contact with students abroad, adding: “For the moment, none of them have reported any health problems to us.”