Coventry students stranded near Shanghai

[dutchman]

Coventry University theatre students are stranded in China as the ban on flights into English airspace continues to be extended.

Alice Pegrum, 19, is among the group who should have flown back on Saturday. She said she was told she will not be able to return until 29 April.

She had been on a university-funded trip to a college three hours away from Shanghai and is now remaining there.

The flight ban has left hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded.

An Icelandic volcano erupted on Thursday sending potentially dangerous ash into the air.

Student loan

Miss Pegrum was due to return to Coventry University earlier.

Instead, she has returned to her overseas college accommodation as the alternative would have been to pay for accommodation in Shanghai.

She is having to fund her extra stay in China out of her student loan.

Contact from the airlines had been poor, she said.

"Some people have not been offered any options at all yet," she said.

"One girl paid £900 for a flight to Paris on the 25th but she will have to pay for transport back to England on top of that."

Miss Pegrum added she had managed to remain in contact with friends and family through email and the occasional phone call.