CALAIS MOTHER, DAUGHTER ESCAPE TBILISI
By Susan Allen
Barre Montpelier Times Argus
August 12, 2008
VT
CALAIS – Tinatin Kilaberidze-Line and her 12-year-old daughter Nina
were among a reported 170 Americans evacuated by bus out of Georgia on
Monday. Late Monday afternoon, Tinatin called her husband Craig Line
at their home in Calais to say she and Nina were safely in Yerevan,
the capital city of neighboring Armenia.
The two planned to spend one night in Yerevan before flying out to
Amsterdam on Tuesday morning. On Wednesday, they hope to fly to Boston,
where Craig will meet their flight and bring them home.
"She called me just now from Yerevan, and I said, ‘Oh my god, thank
you for calling me,’" Craig Line said late Monday afternoon, after a
weekend spent tracking flights and other options for the evacuation
of his wife and daughter from Tbilisi.
"I almost started crying," he said of receiving the call. "I said,
‘I’ve been trying to call you all day. Are you OK?’ She said of course
we’re OK. I said I’ve been really worried; it’s hard to me being here
and not knowing."
Craig received telephone calls and e-mails throughout the day from
friends and family across the country worrying about the safety of
his wife and daughter as they tried to make their way out of the
increasing violence near Tbilisi and home to Calais.
The first critical message was an e-mail received at 7 a.m. Monday
from his wife’s cousin Nino Amiranashvili in the Georgian capital city,
telling him: "Everything is OK. … Don’t worry, they are safe."
As of 3 p.m., Tinatin and Nina were sitting at the Armenian border
on bus provided by the State Department as authorities checked the
visas of those fleeing the violence in Georgia.
The call from Tinatin in Yerevan came just before 5 p.m.
"She is really tired," Line said of his wife. But she was looking
forward to a one-day layover in Amsterdam to do a little sightseeing,
he noted.
Tinatin and Nina left for Tinatin’s native Tbilisi to visit family
three weeks ago, well before the violence in Georgia heated up. They
had been scheduled to fly out of Tbilisi for home on Wednesday morning,
but the airport closed as the military action heated up Friday.
Craig Line said Amiranashvili put his wife and daughter on the bus
in Tbilisi, and obtained the cell phone number of the driver before
watching the bus leave for Yerevan.
Amiranashvili e-mailed Line later that she had spoken first with
the bus driver, and then with Tinatin when the driver handed her
the phone. She said Tinatin told her she and Nina were waiting with
other buses at the border as officials checked visas of those trying
to cross into the safety of Armenia.
Craig called the hotel he had reserved for Tinatin and Nina in Yerevan
almost hourly checking to see if the two had arrived. Each time he was
told they had not checked in. He felt relieved, however, that at least
the border where they were waiting was outside the area of fighting.
"I’m feeling better because I know they’re out of there," Line
said. But, he added, "I’m very worried about the family" Tinatin
left behind.
Line said he spoke briefly to Tinatin’s mother, a retired
pharmacologist living in Tbilisi, who does not speak English. She was
able to communicate to him only that, "Everything is fine, no problem."
But he was concerned following the news Monday that Russian troops
were heading toward Tbilisi.
"I saw the mushroom cloud rising over the center of Tbilisi," he said
of one televised shot.
He said Tinatin cut short one telephone call Sunday night, telling
him, "I need to go sit with Mom. She’s just be sitting here crying
for three days."
The Lines had tried unsuccessfully in recent years to obtain a visa
for Tinatin’s mother. He said several people have asked him today if
that might be easier given the current violence there, but he didn’t
know the answer
U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy has helped the Lines with visa issues in the
past. Craig said he left a message for Leahy at home in Middlesex
last night to discuss the current situation with Tinatin and Nina.
"He called at 9:45 p.m. last night and said, ‘You’ve done
everything. Sounds like it’s a good plan but keep me posted,’"
referring to the Lines’ decision to take the bus to Armenia. Leahy
called Craig back at noon on Monday after talking to the State
Department and said, "It should be good."
The Times Argus initially reported the story of the Lines’ efforts
to evacuate from Tbilisi in Monday’s paper. Line said his phone and
e-mail was busy with traffic all day Monday, many in response to the
article and others just checking on Tinatin’s family. Two friends
drove over to Line’s house because they didn’t want to tie up the
phone lines as he waited for news.
Although phone and cell service in and out of Tbilisi was spotty
Monday, Craig was able to reach Amiranashvili.
He told her, "I’m so worried about you guys. We hope everything will
be OK."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
