ISLAMABAD: The fourth batch of Saudi nationals returned from Pakistan on Sunday after being stranded there due to travel restrictions imposed to limit the spread of coronavirus outbreak in the country, the Saudi embassy in Islamabad said in a Twitter post.
Pictures shared in a separate tweet showed several Saudi citizens leaving from Islamabad.
It follows a statement by Saudi Ambassador to Islamabad, Nawaf bin Saeed Al-Malki, in March this year, wherein he said that the embassy had contacted Saudi nationals in Pakistan to facilitate their return home; without divulging any other details, such as the number of Saudis residing in the country.
Islamabad had also launched select flights on May 01 to repatriate Pakistanis stranded in Saudi Arabia, a majority of whom are on short-term visas, awaiting final exit notifications, or are classified as medical emergency cases.
In a statement released on Sunday, the Consulate General of Pakistan in Jeddah said that with the start of Pakistan International Airlines’ (PIA) select flights from the Kingdom on May 1, a total of 27 flights had brought back nearly 5,700 Pakistanis from Jeddah in the western region of the Kingdom.
“Similar PIA special flights are also being operated from Riyadh. These special flights are expected to continue till the resumption of normal commercial flights between the two countries,” the statement added.
As of Sunday, there were more than 150,000 coronavirus cases in the Kingdom with 1,267 deaths reported.
