“We are hostages in the Seychelles”, the misadventure of three Roman families blocked after the attack on Iran

After the canceled flight, the odyssey begins to look for another accommodation and reschedule the return flight: “We had to look for a house and, at 10.30pm, we managed to find accommodation with a family who had a vacant house because other guests had booked but were unable to arrive. Today, however, we had to leave it because there were other tourists arriving and we had to start desperately looking for accommodation again”.

In fact, while time passes and the unexpected expenses of the forced stay increase, rescheduling a flight is a mirage: “We had purchased a ticket to the Seychelles with Etihad with a return trip to Rome, but Etihad stops in Abu Dhabi and the other route up to Mahè is carried out by Air Seychelles who did not give us any type of assistance, nor put us in contact with Etihad. There is no desk here and we have never managed to speak to an Etihad operator neither by email nor by telephone. A friend from Italy had managed to call the call center and book a replacement flight for 9 March but it was then suspended.” The only chance to ask for a refund and buy a new ticket with companies that fly on other active routes: “From here we can’t talk to the companies and we can’t book from the sites”says Marino, explaining that finding a flight is a mirage and prices are reaching stratospheric figures; in fact, after almost a week of research, his family, through an agency in Italy, managed to purchase a flight for March 12 with a company “that stops in Ethiopia for the ‘modest’ sum of 4,800 euros for four people”, an expense which is added to the additional costs incurred during this week for food and accommodation. “There were solutions even for 8 thousand euros, is it possible to spend 8 thousand euros to go home?”, he asks.

“The Farnesina responded to us that the priority is for those in war zonesand that’s right, but she told us that we have to deal with the airline: too bad we never managed to talk to each other except our friend from Italy who booked the flight for us and then suspended it again. We are continuing to incur expenses, we have to go back to work – underlines Marino – The only thing that the embassy in Nairobi has proposed to do is to give us a loan (to cover unexpected costs – ed.) with a promise of reimbursement. I feel like a hostage on an island – he concludes – I understand that there are people more at risk than us, but it is not even possible to remain here abandoned with minor children who have to go back to school”. The other families in the group are also looking for a solution.