Dozens of Vanuatu workers returning home from working on orchards and vineyards in New Zealand are stuck in Fiji with commercial flights yet to resume.
Local authorities said yesterday the Bauerfield International Airport would likely remain closed until at least Saturday.
Similar scenes were playing out for their colleagues in Australia the first to announce the cancellation of flights to Port Vila.
Vanuatu resident Danson Kirk said he was on a call with his wife, who was at a wharf preparing to board an outboard motor canoe in the capital to head home to their village, when the 7.3 magnitude quake struck on Tuesday.
Kirk says she switched to her front-facing camera and started showing him some of what was going on and then she was cut-off along with the entire country as power, internet and all telecommunications went out in the immediate aftermath of the quake.
He says he was worried because the whole network in Vanuatu was down, so, he did not know if she had made it back to their island or not.
Kirk remained in the dark for hours, until 11pm on Tuesday when telecommunications started being restored, and he was able to reach his wife who reassured him that their family were all safe.
Source: RNZ Pacific
