"South Africa has allowed more than 150 Palestinian airline passengers to disembark, after they were kept on a plane for almost 12 hours by the country's border police, authorities said. South Africa's Ministry of Home Affairs authorised the passengers to get off the plane on Thursday night after a local humanitarian organisation guaranteed to provide the passengers with accommodation during their stay in South Africa if needed."
"The chartered plane carrying 153 Palestinians landed shortly after 8am (06:00 GMT) on Thursday morning at OR Tambo International Airport, which serves the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria. According to the BMA, the Palestinian passengers were not allowed to disembark from the aircraft after it was discovered they did not have the customary departure stamps in their passports. The passengers also did not indicate how long they intended to stay in South Africa or the address of their accommodation, the BMA said."
A chartered plane carrying 153 Palestinian passengers landed at OR Tambo International Airport early Thursday morning. The passengers were kept on the aircraft for almost 12 hours by border police and were initially denied entry. Border officials cited missing customary departure stamps, failure to indicate intended length of stay and accommodation address, and failure to pass immigration checks. None of the travellers expressed an intention to apply for asylum. The Ministry of Home Affairs authorised disembarkation after a local humanitarian organisation guaranteed accommodation. Palestinians qualify for 90-day visa-exempt travel and will be processed under normal entry conditions.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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