The Terminal: Zimbabwe Family Stuck 3 Months At Bkk Airport

[webfact]

The Terminal: Zimbabwe Family Stuck 3 Months At Bkk Airport

By Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter

 

Kanaruj Artt Pornspolt poses with a Christmas present for a child identified as Mashia who has been living with her family for three

months inside Suvarnabhumi Airport. Photo: Kanaruj Artt Pornspolt / Facebook

 

SAMUT PRAKAN — A Zimbabwean family of four are spending the holidays in the departure lounge of Suvarnabhumi International Airport, where they have been living for the past three months.

 

The family’s plight has been winning sympathy online since an airport employee posted a photo with a young girl identified as “Mashia.” The image of the employee giving the girl a Christmas present drew an outpouring of appreciation – and concern – since it was posted Tuesday night.

 

Full story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/2017/12/27/terminal-zimbabwe-family-stuck-3-months-bkk-airport/

 

-- © Copyright Khaosod English 2017-12-27

[Just1Voice]

That's pathetic. 

 

[Kerryd]

Methinks there is more to this story than is being told. Yeah Zimbabwe is a messed up place but it's not shut down/closed off/unaccessible.  And no mention of their Consulate being informed (Zimbabwe doesn't have an Embassy in Thailand, just an Honorary Consul General).

 

Mugabe's ouster started just under 6 weeks ago and the military operation ended 4 weeks ago. Apparently this family was in the airport for 6 weeks before Mugabe was ousted. Not sure why they weren't able to return before then, or since then.

Something's off about this story. (I noted as well how they only showed a picture of the child and not the parents.)
 

[ratcatcher]

8 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

Methinks there is more to this story than is being told. Yeah Zimbabwe is a messed up place but it's not shut down/closed off/unaccessible.  And no mention of their Consulate being informed (Zimbabwe doesn't have an Embassy in Thailand, just an Honorary Consul General).

 

Mugabe's ouster started just under 6 weeks ago and the military operation ended 4 weeks ago. Apparently this family was in the airport for 6 weeks before Mugabe was ousted. Not sure why they weren't able to return before then, or since then.

Something's off about this story. (I noted as well how they only showed a picture of the child and not the parents.)
 

"Methinks there is more to this story than is being told. "

Absolutely right! This story is nowhere else on the net. There is no mention of whereabouts in Zims they are from.

Perhaps a little research by the media? 

 

 

[Rhys]

...and they can't get out... I suppose the Thai support services are doing a good job to help the family by looking the other way and their num jai.

 

[4MyEgo]

Such a humane society we live in, really hope this gets sorted real soon, as this is not healthy to say the least, especially for the kids, and like what the f, why haven't we heard of this before ?

Edited December 27, 2017 by 4MyEgo

[grb944]

if the story is true , they are stuck in arrivals , not departure lounge

 

 

[greatwhitenorth]

I saw a movie of a man in very similar situation.   don t worry it will all work out

[Kerryd]

10 hours ago, grb944 said:

if the story is true , they are stuck in arrivals , not departure lounge

 

 

Unless they had checked in, went to the Departure area and then didn't board their flight for some reason (or it was cancelled or whatever). Also could end up in Departures if you were transferring from one flight to another, without actually "entering" Thailand.

I've done that before. I arrived from Dubai on one flight, went to the Transfer desk, then into the Departure area and sat there for 10 hours until my new flight departed (couldn't get flights any closer together for that trip).

If you are in Departures though, I don't know how you'd get back into "Arrivals". Say in the case you decided to apply for a "Visa on Arrival" so you could get out of the airport. Of course, that would require you to go through Immigration and then your names/faces/passport numbers would be "on the grid". (Note how the article is careful not to mention their full names.)
 

[Sydebolle]

OK, now everything makes sense!
 

This explains the four hours queues at immigration, the lack of parking, the imminent need of a second airport in Chiang Mai - perfect.

Does any governmental eye actually screen anything, before it gets published?

I mean, honestly, "the Terminal" with Tom Hanks and Catherina Zeta-Jones is one thing, a Rhodesian family roaming Swampi another; unless of course Mugabe was doing a sequel and meanwhile ran out of movie directorship .......... 

[rhodie]

Story here http://www.thezimbabwenewslive.com/world-news-44383-zimbabwean-family-stranded-at-thailand-airport-for-months-was-attempting-to-reach-spain.html

[Sir Swagman]

Possibly they are not stuck, just in line for immigration 

[waxpro]

why they stay a such long time at the airport? 3 months.. a quarter of year!

why like this? why they did not tell the issue? if they lack of money or any,, if each passenger could donate just 1 baht, i guess they managed to help them get out of there,

No consideration about the child physical and mental health by being arrested like this?

[oldhippy]

1 hour ago, rhodie said:

Story here http://www.thezimbabwenewslive.com/world-news-44383-zimbabwean-family-stranded-at-thailand-airport-for-months-was-attempting-to-reach-spain.html

Not really poor people!

They have money to buy a ticket to BKK from Zimbabwe.

They have money to buy a ticket to Spain from BKK.

They have money to (over) stay in Thailand 6 months.

They have money to pay the overstay penalty.

They have money to buy a new ticket to Spain.

4 adults and 4 children.

 

I blame Ian Smith for most of the problems in Zimbabwe, but these people do not appear to have suffered much from Smith or Mugabe.... they must have been able to save at least 25.000 euro in one of the poorest countries in the world?

[Dap]

31 minutes ago, waxpro said:

why they stay a such long time at the airport? 3 months.. a quarter of year!

why like this? why they did not tell the issue? if they lack of money or any,, if each passenger could donate just 1 baht, i guess they managed to help them get out of there,

No consideration about the child physical and mental health by being arrested like this?

Read Post #11.

[FritsSikkink]

2 minutes ago, Cohen said:

It's a fake news

learn to read:

 

http://www.thezimbabwenewslive.com/world-news-44383-zimbabwean-family-stranded-at-thailand-airport-for-months-was-attempting-to-reach-spain.html

[webfact]

Zimbabwe family stuck at airport well looked after, Immigration says

By Jessada Chantharak 
The Nation

 

 

The family of eight from Zimbabwe that’s been living at Suvarnabhumi International Airport for three months is awaiting refugee status from the United Nations’ Bangkok office, the Immigration Police Bureau has explained in response to an online furore.

Photos of the family – with children aged 2, 6, 7 and 11 – circulated on the social media this week, prompting calls for their predicament to be resolved.

 

Bureau deputy spokesman Pol Colonel Cherngron Rimpadee said it had been determined that Muvadi Rodrick’s family arrived in Thailand in May and overstayed their tourist visas by five months.

 

The overstay was discovered on October 23 when they sought to leave Thailand to fly to Barcelona, Spain. 

 

They were fined and an airline was asked to fly them back to Zimbabwe, but the family claimed their safety would be at risk amid their homeland’s unrest, Cherngron said. 

 

On November 7, the family bought airfare to a third country, but on November 13, Ukraine, where they stopped in transit, sent them back to Thailand. 

 

They have been living since then within the departure terminal at Suvarnabhumi under the care of airline staff while their application for refugee status is being processed.

 

They were being well taken care of and were not being held in a detention hall, as is the case with foreigners awaiting deportation, Cherngron stressed.

 

“The Immigration Police Bureau received a letter from the UN refugee agency’s office in Thailand saying this group had been registered as applicants for refugee status and the process was underway,” he said. UN officials have interviewed them and was asking relevant agencies to provide humanitarian aid.

 

The family’s predicament came to light when Facebook user Kanaruj Artt Pornsopit, who said he works at the airport, posted a photo of himself with the six-year-old, who’d asked him to bring her a Christmas present.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30334953

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-12-28

[free123]

2 hours ago, rhodie said:

Story here http://www.thezimbabwenewslive.com/world-news-44383-zimbabwean-family-stranded-at-thailand-airport-for-months-was-attempting-to-reach-spain.html

i often see Africans ( once had a gf ..and i hung out for quiet some times among them ) even sympathic and understandable but most of times (99%) a stupid brainless mess...the country the people and the way they handle and organise life and their affairs....on an individual personal level  and on a government level as both are interwoven..( you always get the leaders and system that u deserve ) 

[watcharacters]

 

 

 

There are opportunities or solutions.

 

 

 

 

[khunken]

Personally I think they are lucky to be cared for by airport staff and treated quite decently by Thai immigration.

 

It looks very like that they were trying to get into Spain via a backdoor method (Kiev) that didn't work. They were holidaying (& overstaying) in Thailand long enough to be able to apply to the Spanish embassy for a visa. The reports I've seen don't say if they tried or not.

 

They are not poor - based on the flights they've taken - and have refused to fly back to Zimbabwe because of some real or fake fear. Whether they are real refugees or not will have to be sorted out by UNHCR but it needs a speedy solution as living in an airport is no place for children.

[SABloke]

55 minutes ago, free123 said:

i often see Africans ( once had a gf ..and i hung out for quiet some times among them ) even sympathic and understandable but most of times (99%) a stupid brainless mess...the country the people and the way they handle and organise life and their affairs....on an individual personal level  and on a government level as both are interwoven..( you always get the leaders and system that u deserve ) 

"...a stupid brainless mess..."

 

An apt assesment of this post. 

[Cohen]

1 hour ago, FritsSikkink said:

learn to read:

 

http://www.thezimbabwenewslive.com/world-news-44383-zimbabwean-family-stranded-at-thailand-airport-for-months-was-attempting-to-reach-spain.html

Learn to live. Or just come to Zimbabwe. And you will understand why it is a fake news.

[Bluespunk]

1 hour ago, free123 said:

i often see Africans ( once had a gf ..and i hung out for quiet some times among them ) even sympathic and understandable but most of times (99%) a stupid brainless mess...the country the people and the way they handle and organise life and their affairs....on an individual personal level  and on a government level as both are interwoven..( you always get the leaders and system that u deserve ) 

How insightful...

[Jonmarleesco]

3 hours ago, oldhippy said:

Not really poor people!

They have money to buy a ticket to BKK from Zimbabwe.

They have money to buy a ticket to Spain from BKK.

They have money to (over) stay in Thailand 6 months.

They have money to pay the overstay penalty.

They have money to buy a new ticket to Spain.

4 adults and 4 children.

 

I blame Ian Smith for most of the problems in Zimbabwe, but these people do not appear to have suffered much from Smith or Mugabe.... they must have been able to save at least 25.000 euro in one of the poorest countries in the world?

Ian Smith? Given he's ancient history, he can hardly have been responsible for Zimbabwe during the Mugabe years. 

 

And three months stuck in the airport? That sounds seriously unlikely.

[metisdead]

Troll posts and replies have been removed. 

[oldhippy]

15 minutes ago, Jonmarleesco said:

Ian Smith? Given he's ancient history, he can hardly have been responsible for Zimbabwe during the Mugabe years. 

 

And three months stuck in the airport? That sounds seriously unlikely.

Maybe without Smith no Mugabe.

Maybe without Mugabe no Mnangagwa.

That would be 3 dispicable racists less.

 

But back to topic, how do 4 rather wealthy adults + 4 children possibly get stuck at an airport?

 

 

[StayinThailand2much]

7 hours ago, Kerryd said:

Unless they had checked in, went to the Departure area and then didn't board their flight for some reason (or it was cancelled or whatever). Also could end up in Departures if you were transferring from one flight to another, without actually "entering" Thailand.

No visas, there you go. Quite a detour for asylum seekers to Spain, travelling via Thailand. 

Edited December 28, 2017 by StayinThailand2much

[anon537687643]

They are stuck either because have no money to travel or to stay so eventually Thailand will accept them!


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[oldhippy]

2 minutes ago, StayinThailand2much said:

I once missed my flight from Don Muang, cause the Immigration lines were ridiculously long (which I didn't anticipate at the time). I had to buy a new ticket cause I was 5 minutes late for boarding (while the plane was still right there in front of me). Maybe this family also missed their flight, while not having the money to buy new tickets... 

They flew Zimbabwe - BKK.

Overstayed 5 months.

Next had a ticket BKK - Madrid.

Later bought another ticket BKK - Madrid.

I don't think they missed a flight because of immigration lines....

(I hope everything worked out for you).

 

[soalbundy]

I thought Zimbabwe was a democracy, so how are their lives in danger ? dodgy dealings in the underworld perhaps as they seem to have enough cash to travel about a lot.