First evacuation flights from Oman, Dubai bring stranded Slovenians home

The first group of Slovenians evacuated from the Middle East has returned home as three flights from Oman and Dubai have landed at Ljubljana Airport, delivering 450 passengers.

More flights are scheduled in the coming days, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.

The first plane, carrying around 140 passengers, landed at Ljubljana Airport at around 10 pm on 4 March after it took off from Muscat, Oman, in the morning.

On the morning of 5 March, two more flights from Dubai touched down in Ljubljana, carrying more than 300 passengers.

Evacuations are expected to continue in the coming days. It is estimated that at least 1,000 Slovenians were stranded in the Middle East earlier in the week due to the ongoing conflict, which leaves about 500 still awaiting departure.

The government has earmarked €1.5 million for repatriation flights. Passengers in Bahrain, Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Syria and the United Arab Emirates are eligible for evacuation.

The operation also required significant resources, and additional staff has been deployed to the Slovenian embassy in the UAE.

Most passengers were elated to have returned and been reunited with their families.

"I don't know what was going on, but I am confident everyone tried hard to get us home," one passenger told public broadcaster TV Slovenija.

Others, however, criticised the authorities for not providing sufficient information, and there have been reports of some passengers refusing to board the first evacuation flight, which made a stop in Jordan, a country they deemed unsafe.

"Reactions, even some we may not like, are understandable and we respect them," said Defence Minister Borut Sajovic.

Photo: Nebojša Tejić/STA