Teacher fixes f lights for trapped pupils in Kabul

A PRIMARY school head teacher has said it was a ‘moral imperative’ to help two of her pupils trapped in Afghanistan.

Amanda Dawson said she had been on ‘tenterhooks’ for three days as she helped to repatriate a brother and sister aged five and nine.

The pair, who have not been named for security reasons, flew to Afghanistan six weeks ago with their sister and mother after the death of an uncle. As Taliban forces swept the country, the family, from Nottingham, were ‘taken by surprise’.

Mrs Dawson secured flights for the family after registering them with the Foreign Office. The head teacher of Mellers Primary School said: ‘I have two basic tenets for our families: that everybody needs to be happy and safe. So when we have a family that is in danger we have to act. It’s a moral imperative ... They are UK nationals. This is their home.’

The family were yesterday at Kabul’s international airport, said Mrs Dawson, awaiting a military flight to Dubai.

She added: ‘I was completely overwhelmed and overjoyed when I found out they had made it to the processing centre.

I burst into tears.’ The siblings’ brother, who is in the UK with their father, said he was ‘so grateful’. ‘I’m not that worried any more now they are at the airport, but I still don’t feel safe for them.’

The older sister told Nottinghamshire Live: ‘It is so scary. There was so much shooting. We are sleeping on the floor.’

The family remains in fear for relatives who worked with British and US forces.