Govt arranges flight home for 94 Thai workers stuck in Uzbekistan
The government is flying home 94 Thai labourers stranded in Uzbekistan due to the Covid-19 situation, Ministry of Labour permanent secretary Suthi Sukosol, said.
The workers will return on Thursday.
“Out of 101 stranded Thai workers in Uzbekistan, 94 expressed interest to come home while seven insisted on continuing to work there,” he said.
“The ministry has chartered Uzbekistan Airline Flight HY 3609 which will arrive at Bangkok at 1.15am on Thursday. The returnees will be transported to state quarantine facilities and remain there for 14 days," he said
“Most of the returnees are members of the Overseas Thai Workers Fund, making them entitled to compensation for being unemployed due to the outbreak,” he added. “The ministry has also contacted their employers to pay the pending wages that some of these workers have yet to receive.”
One of the labourers said that he was glad that he could finally return to Thailand, and would like to thank the government and the Ministry of Labour for bringing them home.
Earlier in June, a group of Thai labourers in Uzbekistan posted an online message that they were being abandoned by their employer and could not come home, prompting Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to order related agencies to provide assistance immediately. With the help of the departments of Employment and Consular Affairs, the first batch of 28 labourers reached Thailand on June 16.