Evacuation of Polish tourists stranded on Socotra underway
The evacuation of Polish tourists trapped on Yemen's Socotra island due to regional unrest and flight suspensions is ongoing, the Polish Embassy in Saudi Arabia said on Thursday.
On Sunday, it was reported that several dozen Polish tourists who, despite official warnings from the Polish foreign ministry, had travelled to Yemen, where a civil war has been raging for nearly 12 years, had been stuck on Socotra following the announcement of a flight ban.
They were offered safe evacuation on special flights organised via Yemenia Airways to Saudi Arabia. The evacuation effort started on Wednesday with a group of 20 Poles transported to Jeddah, according to onet.pl news website.
According to the embassy, Yemenia Airways has scheduled two flights for Thursday, one to Aden in the morning and another to Jeddah around midday.
On Thursday afternoon, the embassy confirmed that a group of 45 Poles had already left Socotra and that another flight to Jeddah had been scheduled for Friday.
"In coordination with Yemenia Airlines, flights will continue as long as needed, that is, until all Poles have left the island," the embassy added.
Flights to and from the island were suspended after the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council seized control of Hadhramaut province in December, prompting Saudi Arabia to impose an air, sea and land blockade. As a result, Socotra's airport ceased operations in the final days of the year. (PAP)
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