Vietnam Airlines’ flight carries stranded citizens in Equatorial Guinea home

A crew of national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines on July 28 left for Bata city of Equatorial Guinea to bring 219 stranded Vietnamese citizens home, a representative of the airline has said.

The aircraft departed from Hanoi at 7am and is projected to land at the Bata Airport at 1pm (local time) after 12 hours of flying.

It will stay at the airport for about two hours before returning home.

The returning flight is due to arrive in Vietnam on July 29 afternoon.

Doctors and nurses of the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases also joined the crew to the African nation to ensure passengers’ health condition during the journey.

Crew members were equipped with special protective clothing while separate zones and air purifiers set up in the airplane.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc earlier requested that Vietnamese labourers in Equatorial Guinea be brought home immediately.

Since the first days of the pandemic combat, the Government leader has ordered flights to repatriate overseas Vietnamese citizens, and asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vietnamese embassies and representative offices abroad to do their utmost in citizen protection.

According to Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Le Van Thanh, 16 of the 219 Vietnamese labourers in the host country tested positive for the coronavirus virus and 20 were suspected to have the virus late June. They have been quarantined and treated in line with local regulations.

The number of infections among the Vietnamese guest workers rose to 112 in early July.