74 Singaporeans return home from Nepal

Seventy-four Singaporeans and permanent residents have been sent back home by a Singapore Air Force C-130 plane on Wednesday, local media reported.

Channel NewsAsia (CNA) said that among those who are desperate to come back home, many have spent more than one night in Kathmandu, the quake-hit capital of Nepal. The tremor has claimed over 4,000 lives.

One passenger named Lim Kun Jie told CNA that many of them have to camp on the grounds at the airport as "they were afraid of aftershocks."

"Tons of people were waiting, queuing up all the way outside the airport even, just to get into the airport to get a ticket out of Kathmandu as soon as they can," Lim said.

Many has said that they have learned to be patient in such a situation as the plane had intended to land on Monday, but were unable to make it because of airport congestion and bad weather.

"We learnt patience; how to wait patiently for everything. We also learnt not to take things for granted in the case of crisis and emergency. The amazing thing was that everybody was very patient. No ugly scenes. People just waited, and that's the beauty of Nepal," one passenger said.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Masagos Zulkifli, who went to the airport to welcome the returning Singaporeans, that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has got in touch with most Singaporeans in Nepal, but there are another five who are still unable to reach at the moment. He added that the government will give another 150,000 Singapore dollars (112,782 U.S. dollars) donation given the serious situation in Nepal. Endi