ABU DHABI — A nine-year-old Emirati boy, who was stuck in Mexico following the suspension of international flights, has returned home after a 48-hour journey across the Atlantic, according to a report carried by state news agency WAM on Wednesday. Meshaal Mahmoud Ali traveled to a coastal area in Mexico, a 19-hour drive from Mexico City, with his grandfather to attend his uncle's wedding. His parents had planned to join him four days later, but they couldn't travel in view of the travel restrictions. Ali's repatriation comes as the UAE's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation continues to repatriate its nationals and their companions to the homeland safely in coordination with UAE embassies and representative missions abroad and all relevant authorities in the country. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Meshaal's parents registered their child's data in MoFAIC's Tawajudi, a service dedicated to UAE nationals through the Ministry's website, and contacted the Ministry and the UAE Embassy in Mexico City to find the best solution to repatriate their son and his grandfather to the UAE. After the concerted efforts of the UAE's foreign ministry and the country's embassies in the United States of Mexico, Canada and the United Kingdom, the boy was able to return home. Ali traveled for hours by land from a coastal town to Mexico City to board a flight to the United Kingdom transiting through Canada. The father of the child, Mahmoud Mohamed Al-Ali, lauded the efforts of the ministry, saying: "We are going through force majeure beyond our control, and the Ministry and the country's embassies abroad are undertaking, under these conditions, a tremendous effort to overcome all obstacles and facilitate procedures for the return of the children of to the homeland."
