Brampton students who were stranded in Cambodia after their passports were stolen last weekend have received their emergency documentation and are scheduled to return home in time for the holidays, the Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Board said.
The 10 students from St. Edmund Campion Catholic Secondary School were on a social justice trip to the region and were sight-seeing in Phnom Penh on Saturday when their passports were taken by an unknown person on a motorcycle.
Bruce Campbell, general manager of Communications and Community Relations with the Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Board, told CTV News Toronto on Monday that all of the students’ documents were in a bag being held by a supervising staff member at the time.
A group of students on a trip to Cambodia are seen in this undated photograph posted to social media. (Twitter/@julio_fatima)
A group of students on a trip to Cambodia are seen in this undated photograph posted to social media. (Twitter/@julio_fatima)
“Somebody came by on a motorcycle, snatched the bag and (they were) gone,” he said. “This one sounded right out of a Mission Impossible or Jason Bourne movie.”
“Part of the security is to keep everything with one of the adults. It’s a bit of a wild card. You never know what could happen,” he said.
The students were scheduled to fly back to Canada on Dec. 16.
On Wednesday, Campbell confirmed that the students have secured emergency temporary passports and exit visas.
“Barring any unforeseen issues, (the students) are scheduled to fly out Friday to arrive on Saturday morning,” he said in an email.
Campbell said that the students were safe and “well accommodated” throughout the ordeal, but they are looking forward to coming home.
“Hopefully this is just a story that the kids will be able to tell through their life, this kind of crazy thing that happened on their trip to Cambodia,” he said.
