Plane braves coronavirus epicenter to bring Turks home

By Ali Murat Alhas

ANKARA/WUHAN, China (AA) - The Turkish Armed Forces A400M cargo plane had successfully conducted many operations, including supporting logistics and taking part in drills and campaigns, but it had a completely unique mission on Jan. 31: evacuating dozens of Turkish citizens from Wuhan city -- ground zero of China’s coronavirus epidemic.

The novel coronavirus has so far claimed at least 426 lives, with the number of confirmed cases over 20,000. The virus is said to have originated in late December last year in an exotic market in Wuhan where wild animals are sold and quickly spread to many other cities and abroad.

In a bid to counter the spread of the virus, the Chinese government put Wuhan under quarantine on Jan. 23 and roads were blocked so people would not cross into other cities and cause the number of infected to surge. Among those under the blockade were hundreds of foreign nationals hoping to be evacuated, including Turkish citizens.

The Ankara government quickly responded and dispatched a military cargo aircraft turned into an ambulance plane for the mission last Friday at 12 p.m. local time (0900GMT) to evacuate Turkish citizens as well as nationals from Azerbaijan, Georgia and Albania.

With a professional medical team, aircraft crew, members of the press and a diplomatic representative on board, the plane landed in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar after an eight-hour flight over the steppes of central Asia and departed for Wuhan once refueling was completed.

As the plane was preparing to land at the airport, the city’s empty streets and roads came into view, with almost no movement on the ground. The Turkish-flagged plane was the only aircraft at the airport, the result of the Chinese government’s lockdown efforts to prevent a nationwide outbreak.

Shortly after landing, the plane opened its rear hatch, where medical aid items consisting of 1,000 biological hazard suits, over 90,000 respiratory masks and 1,000 single-use protection suits were unloaded. The unloading of the items continued for a good hour and then the flight squad waited for the citizen evacuees without leaving the plane as previously ordered by the Turkish authorities.

But the waiting turned into a stalemate as they did not show up for about three hours as some of the evacuees were having passport and visa issues. The problems were resolved, however, with the Chinese government’s positive approach and the evacuees were finally brought to the plane in a specially designated bus.

Before being allowed to board, the evacuees, including 32 Turks, six Azerbaijanis, three Georgians and an Albanian, were examined by the medical staff, who collected data on their body temperatures, oxygen levels and medical history. All 42 were then allowed on board with the approval of the head of the medical team and the plane started its engines.

Having been severely affected by the psychological challenges with regards to the virus and tired of waiting for hours at the airport, some of the evacuees were moved to tears -- either of joy or simply from the stress they had been enduring.

While the medical team was checking their well-being and conducting certain tests to determine whether they were infected, some of the evacuees were sad to be leaving China. But some of them lightened up once the plane refueled at Mongolia again and departed for Turkey at 3 p.m. local time (0700GMT), meaning they were finally just hours away from arriving home.

The number of those whose spirits were lifted grew as they got closer to Turkey, with each minute passing bringing hope and happiness to the evacuees, some of whom had been waiting for weeks to be repatriated.

The pilot’s announcement that they were in Turkish airspace lifted the mood of all those on board and some began to applaud while others hugged each other.

Meanwhile, the real heroes of the operation – the health professionals who barely slept during the entire journey – became emotional after landing and congratulated each other. The standing ovation they were given by the evacuees moved some of them to tears.

Having landed at a military airport in the capital Ankara, the plane opened its rear hatch and evacuation of citizens and staff commenced. The people were taken to a hospital specially designated for those on the plane where they would be held under quarantine for 14 days in line with the maximum incubation period of the coronavirus.

With three days having passed in isolation, those under quarantine are apparently healthy as they do not show any symptoms related to the virus. On top of that, the health minister said all 61 on board the plane were tested and the results were negative.

Now every single patient at the hospital looks forward to completing the quarantine process and reuniting with their loved ones.