Easter Islanders finally are allowed to go home
RUSSELL, New Zealand — About 25 residents from remote Easter Island who’ve been stranded far from their loved ones for more than six months because of the coronavirus finally will be able to return home this week on a French military plane.
The group has been stranded on Tahiti in French Polynesia. Many arrived in March planning to stay for just a few weeks, but they got stuck when the virus swept across the globe and their flights back home on LATAM airlines were canceled.
A second group of about 15 Tahitians has been stranded on Easter Island because of the flight cancellations.
French authorities announced Tuesday they would repatriate both groups.
Also named Rapa Nui, Easter Island is a Chilean territory located midway between Polynesia, in the South Pacific, and South America.
The French state department said it launched the mission following a request from Chilean authorities.
The group of Easter Islanders had been begging authorities for help for months — in Spanish, in French, and in English.
“I’m so happy!!!” the group’s unofficial leader, Kissy Baude, said in a WhatsApp message tothe AP. “We are very happy and relieved to finally be able to return home and to know that the Tahitians stranded in Rapa Nui will also return home in the same mission.”
Baude thanked authorities in France, French Polynesia, Chile and Easter Island for putting the logistics in place, including a 14day virus quarantine theywill undergo when they arrive back on Easter Island.
Among those stranded is a 21year-old mom who gave birth to her second son just a fewdays ago without her husband by her side, because hewas back home. Itwas unclear whether she and her newborn would be ready to return home on Thursday’s flight.
Home to about 8,000 people, Easter Island is a tiny speck in the Pacific Ocean renowned for its imposing moai — giant heads carved from volcanic rock by inhabitants hundreds of years ago. For Easter Islanders, Tahiti long has been a stopping-off point, a connection to the rest of the world.
Until the virus struck, LATAM airlines ran a regular return route from Santiago, Chile, to Easter Island and on to Tahiti. LATAM said it suspended the route in March and doesn’t have a timeline for restarting it. Noother airlines offer a similar service.