- EUSTATIUS--Government Commissioners of St. Eustatius Marnix van Rij and Alida Francis announced that repatriation of citizens of Europe and the United States would be possible in the near future.
Van Rij stated that the public entity St. Eustatius has been receiving calls from persons in Statia who would like to return to Europe. On Thursday, April 23, the government received notification from Dutch representative in St. Maarten Chris Johnson that they are currently working together with several European countries to arrange a flight between St. Maarten and the Netherlands.
Van Rij stated that a list has been compiled of 20 persons with different nationalities from Austria, Great Britain, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands who applied to be flown to the Netherlands.
The repatriation flight will not only accommodate holders of Dutch passports. Persons from other countries are advised to directly contact the embassy of their respective country to be eligible for possible outbound flights.
Persons wishing to leave the island have to make these arrangements themselves but can contact the office of the Dutch Representative in St. Maarten.
Van Rij estimates that the flight to the Netherlands via St. Maarten will most probably take place in early May. Passengers from Statia will most like be flown to St. Maarten by a chartered aircraft. All travel expenses will be for the passenger’s account.
Van Rij encouraged all citizens of the United States in Statia who would like to return to the US to contact the US consulate in Curaçao, especially if these persons have not yet registered with the consulate as US citizens.
