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A Gold Coast man has arrived at Brisbane Airport this morning after a two-week rescue mission to get his family out of Ukraine.
Jason Marrable waited weeks and journeyed over 13,000km to bring his family back home to Queensland from conflict-ridden Ukraine.
Mr Marrable said he was exhausted after the journey.
“It’s been a surreal two weeks,” he said.
Mr Marrable travelled to Ukraine to help bring his wife’s sister, Ira, and their nine-month-old nephew, Maxim, back home to Queensland.
“It’s been a traumatic experience, it’s been a life-changing experience. Seeing the grief, the trauma that these people have been through,” Mr Marrable said.
Ira, her husband and Maxim first fled Kyiv to the north of the country.
But as the bombing intensified, Ira made the difficult decision to leave her husband and flee to Poland with Maxim, where Mr Marrable was waiting.
While Mr Marrable and his family are now safely home in Queensland, the grief for the country they’ve left behind is overwhelming.
“Very scared, because she said, ‘When you wake up and you hear the bombs’ explosion and you’re just running with your baby and don’t know where to run’. Very, very scary,” Nataliya said about her sister’s experience.
After spending days in underground bunkers, Maxim slept for almost the whole trip to Australia.
Nataliya said she was delighted to be able to meet her nephew for the first time face-to-face.
“Can’t wait to give him proper hug once he’s out of the stroller,” she said.
Source: 9News
