London missionary teens stuck in Peru to be bussed to flights out of the country
Pastor says the group could be on a flight home later this week
More than a dozen teenagers from Southwestern Ontario stuck in Peru are one step closer to being able to leave the country.
The teens are from three churches in London and Tillsonburg. They left on March 11 for a missionary trip to Trujillo, about eight hours north of the capital, Lima.
Rev. Graham Buchanan, a pastor at West London Alliance Church, said they're getting good co-operation from the embassy in Peru.
"We've heard that they've worked together with the Peruvian government to obtain some buses that will able to travel across the country and bring our team to the city of Lima. We are booking those travel buses right now."
Buchanan said they've also heard that a flight will be leaving Lima Tuesday, but it's for other Canadians who are currently in the capital city.
"They will be the first [group] to get out. We will likely be brought onto a second plane a couple days after that."
The London-area teens will be traveling to Lima in the next few days and will be staying in a hotel that the embassy has arranged for them, and the flights will be leaving from the military base – not the airport – in Lima, said Buchanan.
The trip from Trujillo to Lima would normally take about eight hours by bus, but because of stops the military has put in place, it will likely take a bit longer than that.
"The issue they have to face … is there's a curfew ban and they have to make sure they can get from where they are to Lima within that time frame. They need to make sure they have lined that up with the government," said Buchanan.
The group is hoping to get permission to leave Trujillo by Wednesday and could be on a flight home to Canada by Thursday or Friday, he said.
The pastor added that the teens are "completely safe…well fed [and] well cared for."
"On their Facebook page you can see they're still in very good spirits, but as they've done some FaceTimes [sic] with their parents, there's an anxiousness on both sides to have them home. They all believe that God has this in his control but they would like to be in Canada with their families."