TORONTO - Senior diplomats from France and Belgium arrived at Toronto's Pearson International Airport on Monday to try to calm down about 70 angry and frustrated passengers stranded there.

Some, stuck in Toronto for five days, were threatening to block Air Canada's counters and not let any of the airline's passengers on any flights.

"It's an explosive situation," Christelle Abassi said of the exasperation felt by many passengers grounded by a volcanic ash cloud that has forced airlines to cancel flights to Europe.

"People are so frustrated that I'm afraid tomorrow there's going to be strikes here. They're going to have people waiting in front of Air Canada and not allowing anybody to go," said the 24-year-old native of Benin, West Africa.

However there were signs the situation might ease as European Union transport ministers had decided to re-open parts of European airspace to flights.

Abassi was on her way home for a vacation from her job in Canada and was to fly through Brussels with Jet Air.

However, she has been stuck in Toronto since Thursday, sleeping in the airport the first night, and complains that Jet Air has done little to help.

"We asked (them) to give us blankets and something to be more comfortable and they didn't do anything. Really, it has been so frustrating," she said.

Jet Air would not pay for hotel rooms until Sunday night, said Abassi. On Monday, she said, the airline was refusing to provide any food.

Jet Air was offering to make a special stop in Athens on its flight to India, said Paul Devos, the Belgian consul general to Canada.

But some were reluctant to take the flight because they would have to get themselves home from Greece.

About 50 French Air Canada ticket-holders held a meeting in front of the airline's counters Monday morning.

Air Canada passenger Nicole Stoltz was at the airport with her husband and two children, trying to get a flight back to Frankfurt so she can get to her home on the French-German border.

"We are really, really disappointed because there was no assistance, really, nothing. On Thursday evening when we came here we had to cry to have a room for one night."

Since Friday, however, they've been paying $120 per night out of their own pockets to stay in hotels.

By Sunday, Stotz called the French consulate in Toronto for help.

France's consul general to Canada, Jerome Cauchard, met the weary ticket-holders Monday at Terminal 1 to ensure each will have a place to stay until flights start moving again.

His spokeswoman, Corrine Cecilia, said some airports in the south of France are open and the consulate was trying to convince Air Canada to send a planeload of passengers to Toulouse.

The consulate bought fruit, potato chips and water for the stranded French citizens at lunch time.

Cecilia said those whose visas may be running out will be taken care of by consulate staff. The consulate is arranging for emergency accommodations through the non-profit group Toronto Accueil.