British Man Forced to Leave Wife for Last Flight out of Wuhan

The scramble to evacuate coronavirus ground zero is tearing families apart including one British man who says he is being forced to leave his Chinese wife behind and a mother who may have to abandon her three-year-old son.

Britons are due to be evacuated from the Chinese city of Wuhan tomorrow and will be quarantined for two weeks in a UK military base - as the global death toll from the coronavirus outbreak hits 133 and the disease continues to spread across the globe.

So far more than 6,000 infections have been recorded in 20 countries, with cases tripling since Sunday and China warning the epidemic will continue to get worse and peak 'in the next 10 days'. 

British teacher Jeff Siddle, from Northumberland, is among those due to be evacuated from Wuhan with his nine-year-old daughter Jasmine - but Beijing is barring his Chinese wife Sindy from boarding the rescue flight.

Mr Siddle, 54, and his family flew to Hubei province to spend time with his partner's family and celebrate the Chinese New Year- before warnings were in place about the deadly coronavirus epidemic.

Mr Siddle said today: 'My wife's a Chinese citizen, although she's got a permanent residency visa for the UK as a spouse. But what the Foreign Office is saying they are going to be doing an airlift, possibly tomorrow, but it's only [for] British citizens. Chinese authorities are not allowing any Chinese residents to leave.' 

'I was put in the position to make a decision to either leave my wife here in China, or the three of us stay here (in Wuhan). We have to basically have a nine-year-old child separated from their mother. Who knows how long that is going to be for?'

Mother Natalie Francis, 31, who is working as an English teacher in Wuhan, was told today she can't bring her three-year-old son, Jamie, home with her because he owns a Chinese passport, despite being a British citizen.

She said: 'This morning I got a call at 10am it was a gentleman in London’s foreign office saying while I could come back and there is a place for me there is nothing they could do for my son. It's not looking like I am going to be on that plane because I only want to leave to save my son. If I am not able to save my son I’m not going to leave.'  

The Foreign Office says it is trying to get permission from Beijing to evacuate Mrs Siddle and little Jamie but so far the Chinese are putting their foot down and the families has been told not to hold out hope. 

Other expats stranded in Wuhan and the wider Hubei province - including PE teacher Kharn Lambert and Malcolm Lanyon - have chosen to stay in the region. Mr Lambert said he had given up his seat on the rescue flight because he does not want 'to come home and put everybody's health at risk', while Mr Lanyon refused to leave his Chinese wife behind.

British citizens in Wuhan also face a struggle to even make it to their evacuation flight with the city of Wuhan on lockdown and public transport is banned. Mr Lanyon claims he couldn't get to the airport even if he wanted to because no buses, taxis or trains are running.

Jeff Siddle, his wife Sindy and their nine-year-old daughter Jasmine will be torn apart because Beijing won't allow his Chinese wife on tomorrow's British evacuation flight

Mother Natalie Francis, 31, who is working as an English teacher in Wuhan, was told today she can't bring her three-year-old son, Jamie, home with her because he owns a Chinese passport, despite being a British citizen

The couple and their daughter chose to fly to the Hubei province – before it had been crippled by the coronavirus epidemic – to spend time with his partner's family and celebrate the Chinese New Year 

The British teacher revealed his heartbreak in a Facebook post last night (left), in which he detailed how his wife and daughter (right) would be separated for an indefinite time

British PE teacher Kharn Lambert is choosing to stay in the outbreak's epicentre Wuhan to 'give up his seat to others'. He revealed the Foreign Office told him Brits would have to make their own way home once they arrive back in London

Mrs Francis said she, her husband and son Jamie have barely left in her flat in Wuhan for two weeks apart from three times to get supplies.

She added: 'I am so worried about leaving my son. I am trying to get him a flight, and remain hopeful.

'Myself and my husband both think it would be best for his health to go back to Britain.

'I don't know anyone who has contracted the virus but we have been inside for days, the atmosphere is very scary and everything is becoming overwhelming and stressful.' 

The mother is now anxious Jamie will contract the lethal virus because he suffered a bout of pneumonia in 2018. 

Mr Siddle - whose wife will be left behind in Wuhan - added: 'The way things are going that could be a prolonged period before my Sindy could leave China. My daughter's obviously been in flood of tears. She's absolutely devastated.'

The IT software developer added that Sindy was trying to 'keep strong' but has been left 'absolutely distraught' at Chinese authorities tearing their family apart. He added: 'It was an awful decision.'

Mr Siddle said there were no health warnings in place when they flew out on January 15. He told the newspaper: 'My head is spinning. It's just horrendous.

'This ordeal just turned into our worst nightmare. How can they put a family in this position? Having to leave Sindy in China would be the worst thing that anyone could be put through. How am I going to tell Jasmine that her mum has to stay behind?' 

Mr Siddle said they have to make their own way to Wuhan Tianhe International Airport, where the US and Japan have flown residents out of the city from. But he added that he is a three-hour drive away from the airport, warning that all the roads are on lockdown.

'We've called the local Chinese office to get some details but they're saying the only way we can get a car through is if we have a special diplomatic note, so I've phoned the Foreign Office and asked for that but they said they can't do it. So that's put another stress on top of everything.'  

Ben Pinkerton, an English teach stuck in Wuhan, is currently cooped up in an apartment in the virus-hit city waiting to hear when the British government will send the rescue flight on Thursday.

Mr Pinkerton, from Dungannon in Northern Ireland, believes he has secured his place on the evacuation flight – due to leave tomorrow morning – but said there had been 'very little practical advice given' to stranded expats.

He is still unsure exactly when the flight is coming and how he is supposed to get to Wuhan airport with the city on lockdown and public transport ground to a halt.

Mr Pinkerton said the evacuation mission was a 'shambles' and admitted he is now begging for officials to get in touch and divulge more details.

He said: 'During a time of usual celebration the city's streets are effectively empty, portraying a scene more connected to an apocalyptic movie than a time of New Year jubilation.

'Morale amongst the other British people I know is good, for now. However, with each passing day and very little practical advice given by the government I feel that there are some who will begin to feel nervous.

'We have faith in our leaders, everyone hopes that they will try and assist as best they can, but I implore those at the top to think not only of us but also our families still at home, in the majority of cases I would wager they are more worried than we are, and want nothing more than their relatives to return to safety.

'We spend all day with nothing to do so feeling sleepy is quite a rare thing at the moment. We haven't heard much about a rescue operation, however we received word today to contact the FCO and give our names and passport numbers if we were interested in leaving if the opportunity arose, which leads me to believe perhaps something is in the works.

'We were told that an evacuation was happening Thursday morning, but we haven't been given a time or anything, it's quite nerve wracking, just sitting here waiting.

'A vague time doesn't help us, we have travel arrangements planned with the company we work with, but the driver needs rest and we can't assure him of what time we get picked up. The whole arrangement seems like a shambles.'

Nick House, a British national living in Wuhan with his Indonesian wife and two British children, said: 'We would like to be out of here. The man on the other end of the phone said, 'Yes, you are on the list, but unfortunately your wife probably won't be able to get on the plane because she doesn't have a visa at the moment'.

'I won't leave without my wife, so essentially the Government are leaving three British people here for the sake of one seat on a plane.'

Lecturer Yvonne Griffiths, who is cooped up in a hotel room in Wuhan, said she received news in the early hours of Wednesday morning that there was to be a flight from Wuhan to the UK.

She told BBC Breakfast that Stansted is a possible destination but that has not been confirmed, and timings had not been been firmed up either.

'We've to be on stand-by so that we can go to the airport very early,' she said.

'We've to be there six to seven hours before the flight leaves, and we would have a screening from some health people here in Wuhan, and if we are not showing any symptoms then we'll be able to board that plane.

'It has been frustrating up until today. I think the lack of certainty about the time of this flight isn't so worrying as long as we know that it's going to happen.

'Prior to that, we had quite a long period of silence from the UK Government about whether there was going to be any contingency plan to get people home.' 

It comes after the announcement that Britons will be quarantined at a UK military base for two weeks after they have been airlifted out of the Chinese city of Wuhan on a coronavirus evacuation flight, the government announced today in a screeching u-turn.

Up to 200 British expats who have scrambled for a place on the emergency flight out have finally been told the government has chartered a plane to rescue them and it will leave tomorrow.

But furious evacuees with a coveted seat on the flight say they have still not been told exactly when the flight it is or where it will land – other than at 'a London airport'.

They say they were also told by officials they would be expected to make their own way home, sparking fears they could infect thousands of British people by being allowed to walk around.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock was today forced to announce that everyone on the emergency flight from Wuhan would be placed into quarantine at an undisclosed military airbase for 14 days upon landing.

The Government has been under immense pressure to bring home citizens stranded in the city.

In a tweet Mr Hancock said: 'We are working hard to get British nationals back from Wuhan. Public safety is the top priority.

'Anyone who returns from Wuhan will be safely isolated for 14 days, with all necessary medical attention.'

Passengers may be asked to sign a contract before they board the plane saying they agree to being placed in quarantine – or be left behind if they refuse.

One British man in Wuhan who contacted the British embassy there said he was told he would have to make his own way home and stay there if he was flown back on the evacuation flight.

PE teacher Kharn Lambert, who has since decided not to come back on the flight, told Sky News: 'This morning I was on the phone to the embassy and they've basically told us via a script they were given by the Foreign Office that the flight will be leaving tomorrow, they're not sure what time.

Ben Pinkerton, pictured, is a British teacher from Northern Ireland and living Wuhan. He said it is 'nerve-wracking' to be in the city at the moment and the evacuation arrangements seem like a 'shambles'. It is unknown whether he will be on the flight tomorrow

'It will be arriving at a London airport and once we arrive there that basically the Government will not provide any transport whatsoever and we have to find our own way back to our hometowns and then self-isolate for 14 days, which is absolutely ludicrous.

'It's got a 14-day incubation period. Now, we've been inside for almost 14 days, we're going outside tomorrow and potentially coming into contact with someone that might have the virus, which would then mean we could potentially catch it and then without showing any symptoms could then spread disease around the UK as we travel from the airport to wherever we live in the UK.'

Mr Lambert said he decided to stay in Wuhan so he didn't 'put everybody's health at risk' but said his grandmother would have to fly home because she was frail.

Mr Lambert - who is stuck in Wuhan with his visiting 81-year-old grandmother Veronica Theobald and last week begged the Foreign Office to 'come and get them' - revealed he has been in contact with the British embassy in Beijing for the first time

Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who is orchestrating the British rescue mission, said evacuees will be held in quarantine in a military base for two weeks to stop the virus spreading on home soil

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk

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