Iraqi Airways continue evacuating Iraqis who stuck in India

Shafaq News / The Ministry of Transport -General Company for Iraqi Airways announced on Friday the date of the second flight to evacuate Iraqis stuck in India.

“Next Sunday, Iraq will carry out the second flight to evacuate the Iraqis from India.”The General Manager of Iraqi Airways, Captain Kifah Hassan, who supervised the flight said

Iraqi Airways evacuated on Monday more than 400 Iraqis stuck in India due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Iraq’s Ministry of Health and environment announced, on Tuesday, that 82 out of 399 Iraqis who arrived from India tested positive for Covid-19.

A member of the medical media team at the Ministry, Ruba Falah, said in a statement the teams of the Ministry of Health tested all arrivals and supervised their quarantine in a hotel in Baghdad.

The results showed that 82 personnel are infected but not of the Indian Variant.

Earlier, Iraq’s ambassador to India, Falah Abdul-Hassan Al-Saadi confirmed that the Iraqi side is making any needed arrangements to secure the return of Iraqis from India.

"So far, 550 Iraqis want to return, six Iraqis have died due to the new Coronavirus complications, but the Indian authorities refuse to transfer their bodies."

Al-Saadi pointed out that "the health situation in India is very bad and difficult, which prompted the Indian authorities to call all other countries to provide assistance…some countries have begun to respond, including the United States, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and Kuwait."

The Iraqi diplomat sent a message via Shafaq News Agency to the Iraqi community in India, “We are standing by you…, within 48 hours, you will be in Iraq, and all we need for now is to be patient to complete the preparations to be received.”

He pointed out that "there are five personnel among the Iraqi Mission team in India, one of them is in a very critical condition, his blood oxygen levels is between 66 and 70%, and the Mission was unable to find a bed in hospitals.

Iraq has so far confirmed 1,098,187 virus infections, including 15,673 deaths.