Welcome home – 17 Surat Thani students return from Hubei, China

17 electronics students from Surat Thani Technical College in Thailand’s south, who had been studying on a high vocational certificate course at Xingtai Polytechnic College in Hubei, China, have arrived home. They are healthy and happy to back with their families.

The 17 arrived at the Surat Thani International Airport, via Suvarnabhumi, yesterday jus after 9 in the morning.

The group flew with Thai Smile, the budget subsidiary of Thai Airways, after being permitted to travel back to Thailand on January 31. The repatriation was a marathon with a flight from Hubei Province to Beijing, then to Bangkok and finally a short flight to Surat Thani.

They were first tested for the new coronavirus at Beijing Airport and then again at Suvarnabhumi Airport when they arrived in Thailand. None of them tested positive. One of the students, Teshit Hanrattanakon, says that eight students were still having to wait for repatriation from Wuhan by the Thai government as China had already sealed the city before they could fly home.

30 other graduated students in Chongqing, west of Hubei province, had returned before the virus outbreak.

SOURCE: The Nation