The family of Irish medical student Racheal Diyaolu has said “words cannot describe how grateful they are” after she arrived home safe and well
The 19-year-old arrived back in Dublin Airport at 11pm last night after a marathon journey from the city of Sumy in the northeast of Ukraine.
In a twitter post this morning her sister Christiana thanked the public for all the “love, prayers and support” they have shown her family over the last two weeks.
Racheal was rescued by two Scottish volunteers Joe McCarthy and Gary Taylor who travelled to Ukraine to help people flee the Russian invasion.
Racheal’s beautiful ‘Welcome Home’ banner was created by the lovely team @SnapDameStreet Thank you guys so much
I’d say she spotted us immediately! pic.twitter.com/CZCSD4HmGY— (@PrincxssTiana) March 11, 2022
“After 15 sleepless nights and buckets of tears, my family and I are at peace knowing she’s home and safe,” said Christiana.
“A sincere Thank You to everyone for all the love, prayers and support shown to us
“Words cannot describe how grateful we are. To Joe and Gary, our brave heroes, we’ll be singing your praises till the end of time. We’re ordering the extra dinner table seats as we speak.”
She also thanks the department of Foreign affairs officials who helped Racheal cross the border into Romania on Wednesday.
“To all the generous people that donated towards the GoFundMe, thank you immensely for your kindness,” she said.
“We’ll be posting an update today regarding the allocation of the funds! God bless you all.”
Words cannot describe how grateful we are.
To Joe and Gary, our brave heroes, we’ll be singing your praises till the end of time!We’re ordering the extra dinner table seats as we speak!
To @dfatirl for sorting Racheal out once she got to the border! Thank you! (2/3)
— (@PrincxssTiana) March 11, 2022
The Scottish rescuers finally reached Racheal on Monday, using backroads after they were shot at by Russian soldiers around 80km from the Sumy.
On Tuesday she told Newstalk Breakfast that their escape route changed a number of times – originally aiming for Poland, before attempting to enter Moldova and being turned back around towards Poland again.
They eventually reached the Romanian border on Wednesday.
