Repatriation flights bound for Bratislava are scheduled to depart from Muscat in Oman on Monday (9 March), the Foreign and European Affairs Ministry posted on social media on Sunday and called on citizens to register.
"The Foreign Affairs Ministry, together with the Defence and Interior Ministries, has also managed to ensure permits for flights from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates," stated the ministry, adding that priority on busy flights continues to be given to the most vulnerable groups, including mothers with children, minors, and people with health problems.
During the weekend three more repatriation flights from the Middle East transported 115 people to safety from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, and Muscat in Oman, including 102 Slovaks reported the Ministry's communications department.
The total number of evacuees after 12 repatriation flights has thus risen to 484. Four more repatriation flights are currently planned until Tuesday (10 March).
"The Foreign Ministry, in cooperation with the Defence and Interior Ministries, is working intensively to organise further flights. Beyond the repatriations planned so far, we've now managed to obtain the necessary permits and add an evacuation flight, which will fly to the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, where the largest number of Slovak citizens are registered," said the ministry.
A support team sent from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Defence Ministry will assist in the evacuation of Slovak citizens in Oman, Defence Minister Robert Kaliňák (Smer-SD) announced last week.
The decision to send the support team to Oman was taken on Thursday (5 March). The team consists of an air transport specialist, a psychologist and consular staff.
"These are people who capable of operating there. They are familiar with the local environment, command necessary language skills and will try to organise everything that's not yet functioning at that moment. And since we do not have a diplomatic mission directly in Oman, we made this temporary deployment of our people there to help," Kaliňák explained.
Kaliňák warned that repatriation efforts are being complicated by overcrowding at the Muscat airport and difficulties in processing, receiving and departing passengers on repatriation flights. He said other countries are facing the same problem.
"Some aircraft sent by other countries had to turn back in the air because they were not granted permission to land due to the overcrowded airport," Kaliňák noted.
He pointed out that hundreds of thousands of people from various countries are seeking repatriation, while stress and chaos are worsening the situation as a logical consequence of fear caused by the military conflict.
Kaliňák rejected opposition criticism over the use of smaller aircraft and the higher cost of flights. He recalled that smaller aircraft such as the Bombardier are used to transport people with health problems, smaller groups of individuals or vulnerable groups.
Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) thanked everyone involved in the repatriation flights during the crisis, praising the work of the consular crisis management team, which assisted at Muscat airport in carrying out two repatriation flights.
Source: TASR
