Shoeless and shivering, refugees step off the planes from Kabul
The Guardian Weekly|September 03, 2021
Red Cross workers describe ‘shocking’ scenes in arrivals halls but praise stoicism of those who had been airlifted
Kevin Rawlinson and Josh Halliday
Shoeless and shivering, refugees step off the planes from Kabul

They arrived shoeless and shiv-ering, with some toddlers wearing the same nappies they wore when fleeing their homes days earlier. Volunteers have described the extraordinary dignity and stoicism of the Afghan refugees, including about 2,200 children, who were airlifted to the UK out of the clutches of the Taliban.

Some of the new arrivals were passing out from exhaustion in airport terminals, said Dara Leonard, a team leader for the British Red Cross. Others, including pregnant women and “the sick and incredibly frail” were rushed straight to hospital.

“These were people on the far side of exhausted,” said Leonard, who was among the first to meet the Afghan families arriving at Heathrow airport last week.

“My word, they are so stoical, so dignified but they were literally putting one foot in front of the other. To see mothers pushing their children forward towards safety was quite phenomenal.”

Emergency responders described scenes at British airports as “shocking” and “ chaos” as thousands of vulnerable people were processed before being transported to hotels sometimes more than 1 50km away, where they have to quarantine for 10 days.

As the last British military personnel returned to the UK last Sunday, the government said about 5,000 British nationals and their families had been airlifted from Kabul, alongside more than 8,000 Afghan former UK staff and their families and those considered at risk from the Taliban.

Esta historia es de la edición September 03, 2021 de The Guardian Weekly.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición September 03, 2021 de The Guardian Weekly.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE THE GUARDIAN WEEKLYVer todo
Putin's Call To De-Dollarise Alarms Some At BRICS Talks
The Guardian Weekly

Putin's Call To De-Dollarise Alarms Some At BRICS Talks

Vladimir Putin opened the expanded Brics summit last month by issuing a call for an alternative international payments system that could prevent the US using the dollar as a political weapon.

time-read
2 minutos  |
November 01, 2024
Power in the darkness
The Guardian Weekly

Power in the darkness

Wolf Hall is back. As the extraordinary epic about King Henry VIII and his vengeful entourage edges to a climax, Timothy Spall reveals what it was like to play Cromwell's nemesis

time-read
4 minutos  |
November 01, 2024
It's time for Trump's instincts to be called what they are: fascist
The Guardian Weekly

It's time for Trump's instincts to be called what they are: fascist

There is a good chance that on 5 November, Americans will elect the first fascist president of the United States.

time-read
3 minutos  |
November 01, 2024
CASTLES IN THE AIR
The Guardian Weekly

CASTLES IN THE AIR

It was meant to be a dream development of mansions in the Turkish hills. But 13 years on, Burj AI Babas is a half-built ghost town, and a microcosm of the scandal-hit construction sector under Erdoğan. Will the buyers ever get to move in?

time-read
10+ minutos  |
November 01, 2024
Using cutting-edge methods, Alexandra Morton-Hayward is unravelling the mysteries of grey matter – even as hers betrays her The brain collector
The Guardian Weekly

Using cutting-edge methods, Alexandra Morton-Hayward is unravelling the mysteries of grey matter – even as hers betrays her The brain collector

ALEXANDRA MORTON-HAYWARD, a 35-year-old mortician turned molecular palaeontologist, had been behind the wheel of her rented Vauxhall for five hours, motoring across three countries, when a torrential storm broke loose on the plains of Belgium.

time-read
10+ minutos  |
November 01, 2024
Dark times Blackouts spark fears of wider collapse
The Guardian Weekly

Dark times Blackouts spark fears of wider collapse

Maria Elena Cárdenas is 76 and lives in a municipal shelter on Amargura Street in Havana's colonial old town.

time-read
3 minutos  |
November 01, 2024
Washington Post sparks fury over decision not to endorse
The Guardian Weekly

Washington Post sparks fury over decision not to endorse

Fury and shock ripped through liberal America last weekend after news that the Washington Post, home of the Watergate scandal exposé, will not endorse Kamala Harris for president.

time-read
2 minutos  |
November 01, 2024
The great space waste
The Guardian Weekly

The great space waste

From chaotic collisions to depletion of the ozone layer, the thousands of satellites in orbit around Earth have the potential to wreak havoc

time-read
5 minutos  |
November 01, 2024
New heights Teen Sherpa's fight for climbing equality
The Guardian Weekly

New heights Teen Sherpa's fight for climbing equality

Growing up as a sherpa in Nepal, Nima Rinji Sherpa was used to his relatives performing superhuman feats on the mountains.

time-read
3 minutos  |
November 01, 2024
Plastic cave made in Spain keeps Amazonian culture alive
The Guardian Weekly

Plastic cave made in Spain keeps Amazonian culture alive

It is not yet dawn in Ulupuwene, an Indigenous village in the Brazilian Amazon, but the Wauja people have already risen to prepare for the festive day ahead.

time-read
3 minutos  |
November 01, 2024