Saudi sisters free after six months stranded in HK

HONG KONG: Two Saudi sisters marooned in Hong Kong have arrived in a safe third country after securing humanitarian visas, their law firm said on Monday, ending a months-long ordeal as they sought sanctuary from an abusive family.

The siblings -- the latest example of Saudi women escaping the kingdom only to find themselves stranded in foreign cities -- said they were "thrilled" their story had a "happy ending" after making a public appeal for their safety.

The young women, aged 20 and 18, said they made a break from an abusive family during a holiday in Sri Lanka last September with the intention of heading for Australia, but they only made it as far as Hong Kong.

The pair -- who use the aliases Reem and Rawan -- said they were intercepted at the airport by Saudi consular officials and their air tickets cancelled. Fearful they might be abducted, they entered Hong Kong as visitors but later had their passports revoked, leaving them stranded in the semiautonomous Chinese city.