The Royal Union of Belgian Shipowners, URAB, has opened a temporary reception centre for Ukrainian sailors to be reunited with relatives who have fled Ukraine.
About a dozen people are now already at the centre in Hoboken, near Antwerp, according to Belga News Agency.
The sailors, who are still unable to go back to their country right after their stint at sea, had thus asked for a temporary place of refuge. The Belgian ships on which they work can now take them to the reception centre, where they can find their relatives who have fled Ukraine. Family members sometimes travel to Belgium by plane to reunite with a father or husband.
“The first family that came was exhausted,” URAB’s Hilde Peeters commented. After a few days their batteries were recharged.”
The seamen and their families can stay for free at the centre, which is open to them for the rest of the year.
