Samoan sailors who are stranded in the United States after a planned repatriation flight from Los Angeles was canceled last week can expect to be home in January.
That’s according to Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi.
Speaking on his weekly program on TV3, he said the cabinet discussed the the matter last week and the plan is to bring home the stranded sailors next month.
The sailors were to travel home on November 27 on what was supposed to be the first direct flight from the US to Samoa. However the flight was cancelled at the last minute after a sailor who had been a passenger on a November 13 flight from New Zealand tested positive for coronavirus. The sailor had worked in Italy.
According to the PM the sailors won’t travel directly to Samoa but will transit through New Zealand.
There, they must complete all required medical check-ups before they return to Samoa.
