Nightmare vacation for 20 tourists held hostage in Seychelles due to Covid-19

Cape Town: What was supposed to be a paradise island vacation has turned into a nightmare for a Cape Town family along with 16 other South Africans who are stranded in the Seychelles.

They say South Africa wants to repatriate them, but the Seychelles government is reportedly not allowing them to leave the islands.

Nicola Kilner left Cape Town for the Seychelles to spend a vacation with her mother, husband and two children a week before the South African confinement began. They were due to return home in late March, but their flight was canceled, along with two others who were scheduled to take them home. They have been trapped on the island for a month.

“We are about 20 people trapped in the Seychelles,” said Kilner. “South Africa is ready for us to return home, but the Seychelles government has said that” no one enters and no one leaves, “so they effectively hold us hostage and do not allow us to return home.”

Kilner said they were told that a flight scheduled to take them home on Wednesday had been canceled. Then they were told they could fly home on Thursday, but that flight was also canceled. The stranded South Africans did not understand why they were being held on the islands, because their departure would not affect the situation of Covid-19 in the Seychelles.