“We have, as of today, 11,500 Poles who have safely returned from Middle Eastern countries, and at the moment we are preparing the last two evacuation flights,” Rutnicki told private broadcaster Radio ZET.
He said the two aircraft would operate under a European mechanism, meaning the European Union was covering the cost of evacuating Polish citizens.
Rutnicki said bus convoys had set off in two directions. One route runs from Doha to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, from where flights will depart, taking Poles from Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait. The second route is the Oman corridor, serving the United Arab Emirates.
“Today these two directions are covered,” he said.
Asked whether Poles from both routes would return on Wednesday, Rutnicki said Polish aircraft would soon take off for the region.
“I hope everything will be fine and that more passengers will arrive in the country tonight,” he said.
On Sunday, Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said the largest number of stranded Poles had been in the United Arab Emirates, but that commercial connections were being restored there and capacity had reached 80,000 people per day, meaning about 1,000 Polish citizens were returning home daily on commercial flights.
(jh)
Source: PAP