Chinese tourists get help after flight cancellation at a Belgian airport

Chinese tourists stranded at an airport in Belgium due to their flight back home being cancelled have all had the proper arrangements made for them by the Chinese Embassy on Tuesday.

The 341 tourists, some of whom came from the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang, had been at Liege Airport, Belgium, for over 10 hours. They were about to board a charter plane back to China on Monday.

The Chinese embassy took quick actions upon receiving calls for help from the tourist group, including urging the travel agencies involved to duly handle the travel issues and mobilizing overseas Chinese volunteers to distribute food and quilts to the stranded travelers.

By noon Tuesday, arrangements had been made for some 80 tourists to fly from an airport in Belgian capital Brussels, with Chinese Ambassador to Belgium Qu Xing coming to see them off. Another 80 or so people were transferred to Frankfurt, Germany for their flight.

The remaining tourists were provided with hotel rooms in cities near Liege before arrangements are made for them to fly home in the coming one or two days. The Chinese embassy asked Chinese to exercise caution if they plan to visit Belgium.

Tens of thousands of passengers were stranded at the airport after Russian airline VIM-AVIA said it could no longer operate due to financial difficulties.

The airline announced on Monday that it had cancelled dozens of flights over the last few days.

It is still not clear whether the company will resume charter flights to China.

The Chinese Embassy in Russia issued an alert for widespread flight delays after the airline canceled all its charter flights, reminding Chinese citizens of possible massive flight cancellations in the future.