Twenty-three Taiwanese tourists yesterday remained stranded in Africa, as Kenya’s Kenyatta International Airport, a major travel hub in Africa, remained closed following a fire last week that severely damaged it.
As of press time, the Tourism Bureau confirmed that a tour group arranged by Sunday Tour travel agency, with 11 tourists, was getting ready to move from an airport in Zambia to Kenyatta International Airport.
Another tour, arranged by Classic Express, was still trying to work out return flights from Kenya.
The bureau said the group from Sunday Tour had been scheduled to return on Thursday last week. The one from Classic Express was supposed to return on Saturday. Statistics from the bureau show that another 53 Taiwanese tourists are traveling in Kenya at the moment, in groups arranged by Classic Express, Sunday Tour and Modern Tour. They are scheduled to return on Thursday, and Monday and Saturday next week.
The bureau said that the travel agencies have arranged appropriate accommodations and meals.
A tourist surnamed Yang (楊), who was scheduled to return on Thursday last week, complained in a TV interview that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not offer them any assistance.
“Older members in our group have run out of medicine for their chronic illnesses. Everybody wants to go home because we are so tired, physically and psychologically. Kenya Airways has stopped providing free meals and accommodation, and the group’s morale has hit rock bottom,” she said.
David Wang (王建業), director-general of the ministry’s Department of West Asian and African Affairs, said their information showed that the airport in Kenya had yet to resume normal operations.
Travel Land Express deputy manager Chen Ming-feng (陳民峰) monitors the Middle East tour market for the Travel Quality Assurance Association. He said that what happened at Kenyatta International Airport is unlikely to affect tour groups heading to Kenya, which is known for its wildlife.
“We can choose flights landing in the other airports,” he said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching