The International Organization of Migration (IOM) office in Fiji may be reaching out to give some form of assist to the seven stranded Papua New Guineans who are still in Tuvalu after their employer went bankrupt last year.
According to the group’s spokesperson, Mr. Isaac Ronnie, the IOM office in Suva contacted him last Thursday and asked if all their passports are valid and the contact of the company of which he sent the information to Fiji.
“Thursday, I sent expired date for our passports to Fiji migration. All our passports are valid except for Mr. Yamandi Mathias’s passport. It will expire on the 26th of May 2021.”
Although he did say that the IOM office did not mention anything about giving assistance to them, he is still optimistic.
“I believe this Monday (19/04/21) we’ll get good feedback. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
The seven were employees of the now bankrupt Nawaeb Construction and have been allegedly abandoned by the company for over a year after a contract with Nawaeb and a Chinese firm for a project that went sour.
The seven have been without pay for 21 fortnights as of December 2020 up until last month.
They have had to scratch a living together by fishing to sell for food, smokes, and credits to call family at home.
Mr. Ronnie also claimed that the Papua New Guinea Foreign Affairs Department has not contacted them for a while now regarding their plight and organizing a way back home for them.
Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs when contacted by this newsroom stated that they are in the process of verifying information and would respond once they have some information regarding the seven and their situation.