Embassies and consular services can do a tremendous job helping stranded travellers when they are victims of natural disasters, civil wars, political unrest. I was in the Philippines visiting friends in April 2010 when a major icelandic volcanic éruption occured closing for several weeks air traffic over the North Atlantic, northern Europe and Eastern Europe all the way to the Ural mountain. Manila was packed with European passengers, mostly tourists made of tour groups, families or individualités travellers. My friend was the French consul during those events and I can testify of the enormous job the staff was handling. They setup a room with computers and phone lines for people to reach families or friends for financial help. Many tourists had maxed out their credit cards or ran out of travellers cheques. Tents were setup in the embassy Gardens, all expats registered at the consulate were contacted for sheltering one or more stranded tourists. European consulates were communicating between each others to find solutions to the sheltering problem. Flying eastbound over the Pacific was not an option for Europeans as the skies were closed over the North Atlantic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_eruptions_of_Eyjafjallajökull#/media/File:Eyjafjallajökull_volcanic_ash_composite.png We have seen tourists taken hostage by rebels in different parts of the world and their repatriation was done because their home government paid the ransoms or manage a military extraction at the risk of losing a few soldiers. If you do a systematic repatriation of irresponsable tourists then you ask your fellow taxpayers to pay for your trip back. We have seen this problem become too frequent when double-citizenship people return into their homeland where they make more money than in their adopted country without paying taxes. Lebanon is an exemple when war erupts all these American, Canadian, French, etc…passport holders brand their passports all around Beyrouth asking for extraction in the shortest delay. Then their adopted countries comply and ferry all these opportunists to Cyprus to get a flight back. Gaza and Tehran are not immune to these scenari. Ukrainian flight PS752 shot down after take-off from Tehran. Most passengers were Iranians with Canadian passports. Ottawa has been trying for more than 6 years to get compensation for the families of the victims without success. So when you return to your country of origin it should be at your own risks.
Create an account or sign in to comment