Winnipeg woman reunited with uncle who fled Syria
CBC News
Posted: Dec 8, 2012 10:12 AM CST
Last Updated: Dec 8, 2012 10:11 AM CST
A Syrian family crosses into Lebanon at the border crossing in Masnaa, eastern Lebanon, on Nov. 30. Shae Yakichuk's uncle and his two children fled from the Syrian city of Homs to the border with Lebanon, where they were reunited earlier this week. (Hassan Ammar/Associated Press)
A Winnipeg woman says she's very relieved after her ailing uncle and his two children escaped from war-torn Syria earlier this week.
Shae Yakichuk left her St. Vital home last month and travelled to Lebanon in a desperate effort to rescue her uncle — who is fighting cancer — along with his four-year-old son and six-year-old daughter from their war-torn homeland.
The family members were trapped in the Syrian city of Homs, but Yakichuk said they made a dash for the border early this week with a driver Yakichuk hired to get them out of the country.
Yakichuk was reunited with her uncle and his children at the border.
"I grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and I just held him close for what seemed [like an] eternity and I just wailed," she said in an interview.
"It was the most amazing feeling."
Yakichuk says she is now trying to get her family members refugee status.
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