A Thai student in Wuhan appeals for help from Government

A man wearing a mask walks past a commercial area in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, on Jan. 26, 2020. Many residents here have reduced or avoided outdoor activities during the Spring Festival holiday in Wuhan, the hardest-hit city of the novel coronavirus outbreak in central China. (Xinhua/Xiong Qi)

A Thai student, currently stuck in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has appealed to the Thai government to help evacuate her and her compatriots, claiming they are running out of food.

Ms. Pasnicha Krutdamrongchai, a student at Wuhan University, wrote in her Facebook post today that most Thai students in the city, the centre of coronavirus outbreak, were unable to stockpile food because they were given short notice of the city’s shutdown.

She said that most of them, including herself, are running out of food and they cannot go out because travel is not possible and the super market near the university has already run out of food.

Ms. Pasnicha claimed that students from the US, Japan and Indonesia had been informed by their consular officials that their governments were about to repatriate them.

“We are waiting for help from the Thai government. If we stay on, we don’t know whether we will starve to death or die from the virus. We really want to go home and are waiting with hope,” she wrote.

The Royal Thai Air Force has put as many as four C130 transport planes on standby, together with medical teams, to be sent to Wuhan to help evacuate Thai nationals trapped there by the Chinese government’s measures to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Air Force commander-in-chief, Air Chief Marshal Manit Wongwart, said today (Sunday) that the RTAF is waiting for an updated report on the number of Thais in Wuhan, and will fly there to evacuate them once there is an order from the Government.

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said the Government had an emergency plan to evacuate Thais, including several students trapped in Wuhan.

Government spokeswoman Ms. Traisulee Traisoranakul said the Foreign Ministry will hold a tele-conference between the Rapid Response Centre committee, the Thai embassy in Beijing and Thai consular offices in other Chinese cities on Monday to discuss the evacuation plan.

The meeting will be chaired by Thailand’s deputy permanent secretary of foreign affairs Mr. Thana Wetkosit.