Pawel Jurski, a Polish citizen, spent four days at Prague Airport. He tried to return to his homeland via Prague, but the Czech authorities prevented him from leaving the transit zone and entering Czech territory.
His story recalls the movie The Terminal (2004) where Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) is an Eastern European forced to take up residence at a New York airport as his homeland has undergone a coup and ceases to exist. He quickly finds comrades to rely on, gets a job, and falls in love with an air hostess (Catherine Zeta Jones).
On Thursday, May 14, Mr. Jurski was picked up at the airport by the consul of the Polish embassy in Prague, who will help him on his way to Poland.
“The Polish consul picked up the passenger at the airport today,” Artur Lukiańczuk from the embassy told ČTK. Neither the embassy nor Jurski gave further details about what contributed to the solution of the case.
On May 4, KLM resumed its operations on the direct route Prague-Amsterdam.
Jurski told ČTK that he had flown to Prague from the Netherlands. He wanted to continue his journey to Poland from Prague, but the Czech authorities blocked him.
This led to a bizarre situation where Jurski had to stay… at the airport. Regarding food and drink, he relied on vending machines in the transit area.
“All the passengers in these types of situations will receive drinks and snacks from us, as well as accommodation,” stated Kateřina Pavlíková, Spokesperson at Prague Airport.
The Foreign Police declined to comment as “any information about specific passengers cannot be communicated due to the GDPR,” spokeswoman Renata Grecmanová told ČTK.
