RAWALPINDI: A special Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight repatriated 107 Pakistanis who were stranded in Iran due to the closure of Iranian airspace, bringing them home early on Wednesday, officials said.
The passengers, unable to return directly due to the airspace closure, travelled by land to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, before boarding PIA’s first special flight PK-9552, which landed at Islamabad International Airport at 3am, a PIA spokesman said.
The special flight was arranged on the instructions of the Pakistani government, the spokesman added.
On arrival in Islamabad, several passengers expressed gratitude for the government’s swift response and PIA’s efforts.
Zulfiqar Ali, 75, who had travelled to Iran to visit his daughter, praised the embassy staff for their support.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in coordination with the Pakistani embassy in Iran, devised an alternative route to ensure the safe return of citizens from Mashhad to Ashgabat, officials said.
Students and pilgrims evacuated
Dozens of students and pilgrims evacuated from Iran due to Israeli strikes will be transported to their homes in Pakistan on Wednesday, after arriving a day earlier in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, which borders Iran.
Quetta Commissioner Muhammad Hamza Shafqaat said that 545 pilgrims and 207 students arrived in Quetta from Taftan border with Iran and plans are in place to transport them to their hometowns.
“We are trying to have them stay in Quetta tonight. There are some restrictions on movement at night from Quetta,” Mr Shafqaat told Reuters.
“There are law and order concerns on some roads. We want to avoid any unfortunate or untoward incidents.”
Musharraf Abbas, who arrived from Tehran, said he is a student at Iran University of Medical Sciences.
“Their [Iran’s] military residences and rooms were about one-and-a-half kilometres from our residence,” he told Reuters.
“They were attacked late Friday night around 3:30pm, in which high-level personnel, including scientists, Revolutionary Guards and military leaders, were killed.”
Pakistan has indefinitely closed its Panjgur border with Iran due to rising tensions, as announced by the Panjgur district administration on June 15. Meanwhile, the Taftan crossing stays open for repatriation and trade.
Around 214 Pakistani students studying in Iran arrived at Taftan border from Tehran post-Israeli airstrikes, officials reported on Tuesday.
