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Plane with Kabul evacuees lands in Warsaw

19.08.2021 01:00
A plane carrying people evacuated from the Afghan capital Kabul arrived at Warsaw airport late on Wednesday, news media reported.
Photo:
Photo:PAP/Wojciech Olkuśnik

The Boeing Dreamliner 787 had flown in from Navoi International Airport in Uzbekistan, bringing around 80 people, including one Polish citizen, Poland's PAP news agency reported.

Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz told reporters earlier in the day that "about 50 people were evacuated from Afghanistan" using a military aircraft and placed "in the care of the Polish consulate in Uzbekistan."

A civilian plane then took them to Poland.

Przydacz said that a Polish woman was among those evacuated, while the others were people who had worked with the Polish military and diplomatic missions.

Poland is helping evacuate people from Afghanistan as part of an international effort to help diplomats and civilians after Taliban insurgents seized Kabul, news agencies reported.

Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Tuesday declared that his country would assist in the evacuation of around 100 people from Afghanistan, chiefly those linked to the European Union and NATO.

The country has since pledged to offer places on its planes to other people trying to leave Afghanistan from Kabul airport, where chaotic scenes have caused problems for some evacuation efforts, the Reuters news agency reported.

Poland is sending more planes to help evacuate people, according to officials.

A day earlier, a Czech military plane landed near Prague, bringing 87 people from Kabul, including two Polish women as well as Czech diplomats and Afghan associates, the CTK news agency reported.

After the withdrawal of the majority of US forces from Afghanistan, the Taliban swiftly recaptured the country, taking control of Kabul.

This led to dramatic scenes at Kabul airport as thousands of people frantically tried to flee the country, some of them clinging to moving jets. Several of them died amid the chaos.

(pm/gs)

Source: IAR, PAP