Britons tell of ‘chaotic’ scramble to flee Gambia crisis

BRITISH holidaymakers have told of a “chaotic” scramble to get on flights out of Africa as they arrived home from crisis-torn Gambia.

Around 1,000 sun-seekers on Thomas Cook packages were ordered to pack their bags and head for the airport after the Foreign Office (FCO) issued an alert late on Tuesday.

Gambia faces the threat of military action by regional forces after its unseated president, Yahya Jammeh, refused to hand over power to his successor by midnight on Wednesday.

Holidaymakers described a “nightmare” situation at the airport in the country’s capital, Banjul, when they arrived to board flights alongside desperate locals on Wednesday.

“People were crying and panicking. It was just chaos,” said Sara Wilkins, from Church Stretton, Shropshire, as she arrived at Manchester Airport.

On Wednesday, Thomas Cook dispatched extra staff to Gambia and began extra repatriation flights. It expects to have returned its 3,500 package-holiday and flight-only customers to the UK on 16 flights by the end of today.

Elicia Gardner, a teacher at Portland School, Stoke-on-Trent, had been on a week’s volunteering trip.

“A lot of people out there are quite worried, and we are worried for our friends out there,” she said.

Among the arrivals at Manchester Airport was Gambian Ebrima Jagne, a textile engineer in Burnley.

Mr Jagne was comforted by fellow passengers as he wept out of concern for his wife, Haddytouray, and their three-month-old daughter, Ajiamina Jane, who he is trying to get out of the country.