Vietnam thanks Philippines for bringing 172 students home

March 25, 2020

Vietnamese officials on Wednesday thanked the Philippine government for helping 172 mostly young Vietnamese students from Cebu province to go home.

The Vietnamese Embassy in Manila acquired permission and coordinated with representatives of the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Tourism to charter a Vietnam Airlines plane that flew the students from Cebu to the southern Vietnamese city of Can Tho on Tuesday.

A Vietnamese Embassy official said the DFA and DOT representaives were “very helpful.”

When Philippine officials suspended classes and most office work last week in northern Luzon under an Enhanced Community Quarantine and some other parts of the country, the  students asked the Vietnamese Embassy in Manila for help, officials said.

The students’ families in Vietnam also wanted them to return home, officials added.

The students, many of them wearing protective masks, had their group photos taken, some flashing the V-sign and thumbs-up sign. DMS