MINSK, 1 April (BelTA) – An aircraft of the Belarusian air carrier Belavia has brought Belarusians and foreigners from Dubai to the Minsk National Airport, BelTA has learned.
As many as 114 Belarusians and about 50 foreigners, including Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Latvians, Russians, Moldovans, and a citizen of France, landed in Belarus.
“I am a Ukrainian. I am happy we took a Belavia flight. I am immensely grateful to your consulate. They are doing a high-class professional job in Dubai – they organized a chat, took everyone, and we are here now. So we brothers, Belarusians and Ukrainians, are very glad to be home,” Marsel from Ukraine said.
Andreas from Estonia works abroad. He took a Belavia flight thanks to interaction between the countries. He will fly to Tallinn tomorrow morning.
Svetlana from Belarus was in Dubai on vacation. She said she had got on board the Belavia aircraft thanks to assistance of the Belarusian diplomatic mission: “We got in touch with the embassy since our previous flight was cancelled.” Svetlana and a friend intended to leave the UAE on 31 March.
Yulia from Belarus was working in the UAE and intended to go on vacation in late April. Her plans changed and she decided to hurry up and fly now. She mentioned getting on board had not been difficult: “I called the hotline. Then we were added to a group in WhatsApp, things got organized, and that's it. It's good we've been evacuated.”
Fewer and fewer options for promptly bringing Belarusian citizens home remain open as more and more countries introduce travel restrictions, including prohibitions against international flights. According to the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, over 5,500 Belarusians have been able to get home with assistance. The situation is getting more complicated all the time, opportunities become unavailable.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the main regions where many Belarusian citizens still need help getting home are India (including the state of Goa), Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia. Belarusian diplomatic missions abroad have compiled and are updating lists of the citizens and maintain permanent contact. “Unfortunately, due to restrictions introduced by Russia a large organized group of Belarusians was unable to leave for Moscow for the sake of further transit to Belarus this night,” a post on the Facebook page of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reads.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and all the Belarusian government agencies concerned are aware of these problems. All possible options for promptly bringing Belarusians home from the specified locations are being thoroughly explored. The ministry encourages everyone to track the relevant continuously updated information on websites of Belarusian diplomatic missions abroad and in social networks.
