Qatar Airways flight evacuates 305 foreigners including 190 Germans

Published On: March 27, 2020 03:10 PM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

KATHMANDU, March 27: A special Qatar Airways flight has evacuated 305 foreigners including 190 Germans from Kathmandu today.

The foreigners were stranded in trekking trails of Nepal after the government enforced a nationwide lockdown in a bid to stem the spread of coronavirus. In the past three days, the government rescued and airlifted them to Kathmandu from Mustang and Solukhumbu at the request of Kathmandu-based diplomatic missions of various countries including Germany, France and among others.

According to authorities at the Tribhuvan International Airport, the special Qatar Airways flight landed at Tribhuvan International Airport today morning to evacuate stranded foreigners including Germans. At the request of German Embassy in Kathmandu, the government had permitted the aircraft to fly to Kathmandu.

Likewise, another Qatar Airways flight is also evacuating another group of foreigners at 10:25 am on Saturday.

Earlier on Wednesday, a High-Level Coordination Committee formed to prevent and control the spread of coronavirus had decided to facilitate concerned countries to rescue their nationals stranded in Nepal.

After the decision, a few foreign countries have already started evacuating their citizens from various trekking trails of Nepal to repatriate them.

Hundreds of trekkers are stranded in popular trekking routes, mainly in the Everest region, Annapurna region and Jomsom of Mustang after Nepal enforced a lockdown on Tuesday for a week, suspending both domestic and international flights and long-haul passenger vehicle services. But this harsh measure has largely affected the foreigners, mainly the trekkers. They did not get enough time to arrange flights for their departure.