First group of stranded South Africans return from China
The first group of South Africans that were left stranded in China after receiving fraudulent documents from a bogus travel agent, have safely returned home.
It was an emotional reunion at OR Tambo Internation Airport on Monday morning, where the parents of the 20 young South Africans expressed their relief to see their children in the flesh after a nerve wrecking couple of months.
They were part of a group of 51 youngsters left stranded after they fell victim to a scam allegedly master minded by a bogus travel agent who lured them to the foreign country with a promise of lucrative jobs.
They were teaching English when Beijing authorities confiscated their passports.
"The kids are in seventh heaven. They are over ecstatic, they are just so glad to come back and put foot on South African soil," says a parent of one of the children, Carl Venter.
According to Venter, the others will return on Wednesday and Thursday after more than 100 days of trying to get them back to their country of birth.
The Department of International Relations and Co-Operation intervened and secured the group's release, while a wide scale probe is also underway.
Venter says the young South Africans and their parents will receive counselling after their ordeal.