First PIA evacuation flights to depart for Poland today

Two Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) aircraft would fly to Poland on Sunday (today) to evacuate the Pakistanis stranded because of the ongoing war in Ukraine, a spokesperson for the national-flag carrier said on Saturday.

Spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez said that the PIA had drawn up a flight plan to evacuate Pakistani nationals. “The preparations have been made to send two flights to Poland from Pakistan on Sunday,” he said, adding that the departure of flights depended on the arrival of Pakistani citizens in Poland.

According to the spokesperson, the flights were likely to land at the Polish capital of Warsaw because there were no sufficient arrangements at the existing airports near the Poland-Ukraine border, especially in the city of Lublin.

“The Pakistani embassy in Ukraine is not only contacting all those Pakistanis who want to return to the country, but also providing them all-out information in this regard,” Hafeez said. “The PIA management is also in contact with the Foreign Office and officials of the Pakistani embassy.”

The PIA announced the evacuation flights on Friday to bring about 2,000 stranded Pakistanis home from Poland. The PIA spokesman had said that Boeing 777 aircraft would be used in the “special evacuation operation”.

According to the spokesperson, the Pakistani students would gather in the Ukrainian city of Ternopil. “The Pakistani embassy in Ternopil will transfer all the students to Poland by land route. PIA's Boeing 777 plane will then repatriate the students from Poland,” he added.

The Pakistani community in Ukraine comprised around 4,000 people but most of them had married Ukrainians, whereas around 3,000 students were still there. The students were advised two weeks ago to leave the country but many stayed back, as their temporary resident permits were not yet issued.

Pakistan’s Ambassador to Ukraine Dr Noel Israel Khokhar said in a voice message on his Twitter handle on Saturday that most of the remaining students had been evacuated. “Some 500-600 are left and the embassy is in the process to evacuate them safely,” he said.

“All Pakistanis are safe and we are trying to guide them under the difficult situation,” Khokhar said, citing closure of flights, banking systems and non-availability of transport. Despite all these difficulties, he added, the bulk of students had been evacuated while the remaining few would also be evacuated.

Updating on the evacuation, he said 62 people, including 21 family members of the embassy staff had already been evacuated, while 59 people were on the Ukraine-Poland border crossing and another 79 people, including 67 students and 12 family members of embassy staff, were on their way to the border.

According to Khokhar, a batch of 104 students from Kharkiv was arriving via train, while 20 students were being evacuated from Kyiv on a bus arranged by the embassy. “Facilities are being provided for further transit of those Pakistanis who intended to leave for Pakistan or any other destination.”

Separately, the Pakistan embassy in Bucharest, Romania, has established an additional hotline in addition to the embassy’s already existing one. Besides detailed information and guidance regarding border crossing points and visas are shared on social media.

In coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania, arrangements are also in place for the immediate issuance of visas, further onward transit and medical assistance, while accommodation arrangements have also been made in the capital Bucharest.

A team of embassy of Pakistan in Budapest, Hungary, left for Zahony border to receive 15 Pakistanis. The embassy is in contact with three other groups having three, four and seven members, who had indicated the possibility of reaching on Monday.

Read: PIA plans to bring back citizens in Ukraine

According to an earlier statement, the embassy in Ukraine had received 23 more Pakistani students at Lviv facilitation desk, arriving from different cities of Ukraine, including Kyiv. The embassy had evacuated 70 students from Kharkiv city which is one of the main battlegrounds.