Peter Mifsud, 14, is reunited with his uncle.Credit:Steven Siewert
They are among the 150 family members of Telecom staff who were evacuated in a chartered jet from Saudi Arabia last week as the threat of an Iraqi invasion grew.
"It's a potentially dangerous situation but I think the Telecom workers are reasonably safe in Riyadh," said Mrs Deirdre Mifsud, of Merrylands, who was flown out with her two teenage children, Joanne and Peter.
"I don't know about the ones on the border, but I think my husband will be fine."
Mrs Mifsud, whose husband Charles is a 39-year-old Telecom consultant on a three-year contract in Riyadh, said she thought the corporation had made the right decision.
"I think it's good from an economic point of view for the men to stay there, because if they decide to evacuate they will break the contract - it's better from an Australian point of view," she said.
A wife of one of the workers, Mrs Kathy Thomson, told the Herald last night that she had spoken to her husband, John, since she arrived in Brisbane from Tabuk and that he assured her spirits were still high among the Telecom workers.
"I am concerned for him but not panicking at this stage, and I agree with the Telecom decision to evacuate us," she said.
Telecom Australia International has an $86 million contract to manage the country's telecommunications network.
A spokesman said Telecom was confident that the Saudi authorities would protect the 140 workers still in Saudi Arabia, and said the women and children were flown out only as a precaution. The corporation may be in breach of its contract - to install an optical fibre network - if it removed the workers without an invasion taking place.
Mrs Mifsud was relatively optimistic about her husband's safety. "I'm not really worried about them - they seem to be in quite high spirits. I think they'll be all right - in the short term anyway."
Loading
Her daughter, Joanne, 14, said that for news of the Middle East conflict they had listened to BBC radio because there was very little in the Arab news
"I'm not sure we should have come back, but I want to stay now that I'm here. The first thing I want to do is sleep," said a tearful Joanne at the airport.
"If the Iraqis start coming over the border I'll get worried for my dad."
Most Viewed in World
Loading