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A Medway mum has expressed her relief having been told her son, his Chinese wife and four-week old baby have all boarded a flight home from coronavirus-hit Wuhan.
Adam Bridgeman had been stuck in the Chinese city at the centre of the epidemic.
The 33-year-old had gained a place on a French plane arranged by the Foreign Office to bring British nationals back to the UK.
But there had been questions over whether wife Su, a Chinese national, and baby Austin – who has not yet been registered with the authorities – would be able to board, as it was reserved for British passport holders.
Speaking this morning, Adam's mum Tracy Bell told KentOnline she had received a call from her son to say the whole family were on board.
The mother, who lives in the Historic Dockyard with her husband Kevin, said: "All three of them were on the flight.
"I spoke to him just before he got on the plane. He couldn't speak long as his phone battery was about to die."
It comes after the young family narrowly missed a rescue flight on Friday morning when they were given under two hour's notice but had no transport to reach the airport – having even asked the police to take them.
There were also concerns for four-week-old Austin who had not been able to have some of his vaccinations due to the risk of leaving the apartment and going to hospital.
His grandmother said: "They feared taking the baby into a place when they could contract something. Staying in the apartment they were safe.
"If it was just him and his wife they would have stayed."
But the threat of dwindling food supplies in Wuhan and growing concerns over the virus ultimately led to them taking that decision, she said: "they had to take that chance".
She added that the passage through security was far from smooth with issues obtaining an "emergency passport" for their son.
When the family arrived at the airport they were told to report to the French Embassy who requested passports of the infant.
But Adam said they only had photos of Austin on his phone, saying "nobody told me".
Eventually the family was given safe passage to board the flight due to arrive in France around 12.30pm.
They will then be transferred on another jet to the UK and taken to Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral – in apartment blocks normally used to house nurses – to spend two weeks in quarantine to prevent any potential spread of the disease.
Tracy said: "I feel ill with the stress. No one wants to fly a 12 hour flight with a four-week old baby."
The grandmother was due to fly to China on Wednesday, February 12, but had her flight cancelled. She hasn't seen Adam, who works at a gaming company with Su, 31, for almost two years.
Adam, who went to school in Catford and studied politics and international relations at the University of Kent, Canterbury, moved to China six years ago, where he met his wife.
The couple married last November and had been planning a wedding party in the summer.
Tracey will have to wait a further two weeks now before she can meet her grandchild for the first time but added: "atleast it will be here in this country now".
There have been two confirmed cases of the virus in the UK.
The government has been working to get around 200 British people out of the city.
A Public Health England spokeswoman told the BBC this morning they were continuing to make good progress to trace those who had come into close contact with the two people diagnosed.
