ISLAMABAD – The European Union (EU) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) have reached out to Pakistan International Airlines, seeking evacuation of their employees stranded in Afghanistan after the Taliban took control of the country.
Both have sent letters to PIA CEO Air Marshal (retd) Arshad Malik and Federal Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan.
EU envoy to Pakistan Androulla Kaminara in the letter sought a special aircraft for the evacuation of employees of the EU Delegation in Kabul and their dependents on “humanitarian grounds”.
“Evacuation of some 420 persons in envisaged in total, with 251 in a first priority, for which we currently have a name list,” read the letter.
“At this stage, we would ask for a flight from Kabul airport to Islamabad International Airport for direct further transit to EU through another aircraft made available by EU and evacuation of 420 persons is envisaged, with 251 in the first priority for which a list has been made,” the letter reads.
Meanwhile, ADB representative Eugenue Zhukov in the letter has also sought the safe evacuation of the staff from Kabul.
“We expect that approximately 290 passengers would be part of this evacuation plant of which 162 are ADB staff/dependents and are Afghan nationals and remaining are Filipino nationals currently stranded in Afghanistan,” the letter said.
Read more: https://pakobserver.net/pia-lifts-1100-people-from-kabul/
