Urgent call to the Press

[Lourens]

This is a serious situation!

We are being held hostage in Thailand.

There are thousands of people placed in hotels in and around Bangkok who are not able to leave and go back to their home countries. Many of these people are in dire straits as it was the end of their holidays and they are now out of money. They can not afford to stay in Thailand any longer. Eventhough Thai Airways are taking care of food and accomodation, stranded passengers still need to contact work, home and relatives but this has to on own expense. Many have to go back to work.

We were told this morning that it will take at least ten days before people will be able to go home. We can not wait that long. This situation is destroying lives.

This is an urgent call for the press to get involved so that International help can be called upon. If you have contact with the press, please get in touch. We are stranded at the Ambasador City Hotel in Pattaya. Around 10 different nationalities are involved. Please help us get home.