Australian volunteers, who have been stranded in Vanuatu since an airline's collapse, have been offered a lift home on a luxury cruise ship.
Sixteen students and their chaperones with the Hive Rotary Club in Albury were on the Pacific island of Tanna when Air Vanuatu unexpectedly declared insolvency last week.
Their club, whose travel insurance policy did not cover insolvency, has been left with $10,000 in out-of-pocket expenses and has been desperately searching for a way to bring the team home.
Today, however, their luck turned around.
The group have got themselves on charter planes from Tanna back to Port Villa, where a P&O cruise has docked. The company has offered them a ride back to Australia on the six-day Pacific Adventure cruise.
The team were "thrilled" for the "opportunity of a lifetime", Hive Rotary Club president Kellie Kadaoui said in a social media post.