Authorities held 153 passengers, including children and a heavily pregnant woman, over travel documents
South African authorities are facing heavy criticism after they held more than 150 Palestinians, including a woman who was nine months pregnant, on a plane for about 12 hours because of problems with their travel documents.
A pastor who was allowed to meet the passengers while they were stuck on the plane said it was extremely hot and that children were screaming and crying.
The Palestinians landed on a charter plane at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo airport on Thursday morning after a stopover in Nairobi, Kenya, South Africa’s border management authority said in a statement.
The Palestinian passengers’ documents did not have exit stamps from Israeli authorities, did not indicate how long they would be staying in South Africa and did not provide local addresses, leading immigration authorities to deny them entry, the statement said.
