GARDERMOEN/OSLO (Dagbladet): Ellen Anita Duedahl was among those who waited anxiously for the plane from Israel to land at Oslo Airport on Friday evening. At 21.03 it came.
She has traveled all the way from Arendal to pick up her mother, Elfi Edsberg (79) – who in recent weeks has been in the Israeli city of Ashdod with three other friends.
ON PLACE: Ellen Anita Duedahl at Gardermoen on Friday evening, to pick up her mother. Photo: Amalie Bernhus Årtun / Dagbladet Show more
The mother has been close to the drama, and witnessed, among other things, that a rocket hit about 100 meters from them.
Now she is one of the 26 passengers who have arrived on the Norwegian flight from Eilat-Ramon.
– It has been terrible, it still vibrates in me. I have never experienced war before. I’ve seen it on TV, but now I know how it feels on the body, she tells Dagbladet.
– How are you right now?
– The plane has landed, but I haven’t landed yet. But it is good to be back in safe Norway, she says.
– The plan now?
– Lie in bed and relax.
Flight from Israel on the way to Norway
– Nerve wrecking
Back home in Norway, Elfi’s children, grandchildren and friends have been waiting in excitement.
– It has been demanding, says daughter Duedahl.
Since Saturday, they have kept in touch by sending each other messages or pictures once an hour.
– It’s been up to three hours where we haven’t been able to get in touch with her. It was unnerving, but then she was in a bomb shelter, says Duedahl.
Now she looks forward to the five-hour drive home to Arendal together.
– Now I’m going to give her a big hug, then she’ll get nice flowers.
Photo: Amalie Bernhus Årtun / Dagbladet Show more
– Abandoned and forgotten
On Wednesday evening Norwegian time, Dagbladet spoke to Elfi via video call from Jerusalem.
Then she despaired that she had not made it home to Norway.
Earlier on Wednesday, only three of the four in Elfie’s traveling party had been told that they had been given a place on the plane that was to depart from Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv that evening. But it was out of the question to leave the last person in the traveling party, she said.
– We feel abandoned and forgotten, Edsberg told Dagbladet.
Press officer for the Foreign Ministry, Mathias Rongved, responded to the criticism in a message to Dagbladet on Wednesday evening.
– We feel abandoned
– There were many Norwegian citizens who wanted a seat on the first flight that left Tel Aviv this evening, Wednesday, and unfortunately not everyone came, she wrote.
Furthermore, Rongved wrote that they would follow up on people who did not come on the first flight.
STRANDED: Bjarte Ystebø and a travel group of 179 people were supposed to leave Israel on Sunday, but are currently stranded in Tel Aviv. Ystebø tells of very dramatic scenes at the airport on Monday evening. view more
No more flights scheduled
There are still around 200 Norwegian citizens in the region who still want help with emigration. Over half of them are in the Palestinian territories, where it has been difficult for the Norwegian authorities to assist.
On Friday evening, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs Dagbladet that they have no plans to set up more Norwegian flights, similar to the two Norwegian flights that have operated in recent days.
– We are continuously working to map further exit options for Norwegian citizens who are affected by the crisis, and who want the Norwegian authorities’ help to get out, says Mathias Rongved, press officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Dagbladet on Friday evening.
Furthermore, he states that they are investigating both commercial and non-commercial opportunities for air, boat and land.
2023-10-13 20:22:32
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