With obvious relief on their faces, the first arrived on Greek soil at 10:30 17 Greeks freed from Sudan.

In the first minutes after their arrival at the military airport of Elefsina, they described the difficult times they lived in Khartoum, thanked the air force for their safe return and expressed the hope that the rest of the Greeks would also be able to return home.

“Thank you very much to the Greek forces, the army. The French embassy we came out of Khartoumall good” said one of them, his voice breaking with emotion passengers of the C-27.

“We risked too much. We managed and escaped by car, ok, it’s very difficult” he said unable to say more.

“As soon as we arrived in Greece, we are very happy to have returned safe and sound. We thank the Air Force and the Army for helping us return to our homes and families.” said another of the passengers of the warship, and added:

“It was a very difficult situation and we hope that the rest will return home soon. I don’t think anyone plans to go back to Sudan anytime soon.

The biggest difficulties were that when the battles started no one knew where they would be fought, they constantly changed places, and they used very heavy weapons.