Romanians stuck in the Middle East. More than 300 will be brought from Israel. Otherwise, “repatriation flights are at this stage impossible”, announces the MFA / Where is the most pressing situation

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces on Sunday evening that it has received numerous requests for consular assistance from Romanian citizens who were stranded in countries in the Middle East with the outbreak of the military conflict in the region, most of them, in the order of hundreds, being from the Arab Emirates. For now, it was possible to organize the repatriation of over 300 Romanians in Israel, evacuated through Egypt.

In a press briefing, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Andrei Ţarnea, informed that the total number of requests from Romanians stuck in the region amounts to 1,066, a number that does not include the calls from Romanians in the United Arab Emirates, where the number of requests is in the order of hundreds, “a number that is constantly changing”.

In order to manage the situation, the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the number of people working in the emergency center of the MFA has been doubled. He mentioned that 450 calls for consular assistance have already been received in the MFA headquarters alone.

Tourists stranded in the Emirates, stay without payment

The largest number of requests concerns Romanians stuck in the United Arab Emirates, in the cities of Dubai or Abu Dhabi.

“We are in dialogue with the authorities there and guarantees have been received for those staying in the Emirates that their stay there can be continued without payment for as long as necessary”, stated Andrei Tărnea.

“For those stranded at airports, the airlines will take care of food and lodging assistance for these citizens.”

MAE recommendations

“There is no information regarding injured or deceased Romanian citizens”, emphasized the spokesman Andrei Tărnea.

But, among the Romanians surprised by the war in the Middle East are numerous children, elderly people and people with special needs, these being the “priority of our colleagues” from the diplomatic representations of Romania in the states of the region.

“We are currently working on repatriation options”, said Andrei Ţarnea, but for now, considering the scale of the conflict, which is blocking numerous means of transport, not only air traffic, “repatriation flights are at this stage impossible”.

The MFA's insistent recommendation for Romanian citizens stuck in these countries is to register, to give their coordinates, at the Romanian consulates in the region.

At the same time, to comply with the security instructions they receive from the authorities in the respective states.

Over 300 Romanians repatriated from Israel

Andrei Ţarnea announced that more than 300 Romanians in Israel are to be evacuated in the next few hours, after crossing from Israel to Egypt by land. Thus, they will be brought to the country with an evacuation flight on the Cairo (Egypt) – Bucharest route.

Air traffic to and from Egypt is not affected by the military conflict in the Middle East.

TAROM special races

The TAROM airline announced last Sunday, in the context of the tense situation in the Middle East, that it is prepared to organize special flights to meet Romanian citizens located in the perimeter of the conflict zone.

Thus, according to TAROM, once the approvals have been obtained from the Egyptian authorities for the operation of special Cairo-Bucharest flights, more than 360 Romanians will be able to arrive in Otopeni on Monday morning.

TAROM mentions that its staff maintains contact with the representatives of the groups of Romanian citizens in the area, including the group of pilgrims caught in Bethlehem at the beginning of the conflict, who are moving today by road to Cairo to board the flight to Bucharest.