Jeff Siddle, 54, today told of his heartbreak of having to leave his Chinese wife behind in the deserted city of Wuhan – because Beijing won’t allow her on tomorrow’s British evacuation flight. Mr Siddle, his wife Sindy (pictured main) and their nine-year-old daughter Jasmine chose to fly to the Hubei province – which has been crippled by the coronavirus epidemic – to spend time with his partner’s family and celebrate the Chinese New Year. But in a cruel twist of events, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office has revealed Sindy will not be allowed to board a plane evacuating British nationals from Wuhan, which is set to fly tomorrow (Mr Siddle detailed his heartbreak in a Facebook post, inset bottom left). Some 132 people have now died across China and 6,000 around the world have caught the highly infectious pneumonia-like infection, with cases having risen dramatically in the past week. Pictured: British PE teacher Kharn Lambert (inset top) is giving up his seat on the rescue flight and staying in Wuhan to make room for others; A pilot wearing a protective suit parks a cargo plane at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei Province (top right); A Boeing 747 arrives at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Alaska after rescuing Americans from Wuhan yesterday (bottom right).
