THY evacuates 310 people from Morocco

ISTANBUL

Turkish Airlines has evacuated over 300 people, including Turkish citizens and people from other nationalities who were stranded in Morocco, after the country closed its airspace due to the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

A Turkish Airlines airplane arrived in Istanbul Airport on Jan. 5 from Morocco’s Casablanca with 310 passengers on board. Foreign nationals took flights from Istanbul Airport to go to their countries.

Until the end of January, at least nine more flights are scheduled, said the Turkish embassy in Rabat in a statement.

“Planes will depart from Mohammed V Airport in Casablanca between Jan. 12 and Jan. 30. Those flights are arranged to evacuate our citizens, who could not leave the country as Morocco closed its air space to all passenger flights, as well as people from other nations to help them travel Turkey and their countries,” the embassy explained in a statement.

Natalia Zharikova said she and her family were in Casablanca for holiday and spent some two and a half months there.

“Some flights were cancelled but we managed to find a ticket for the flight on Jan. 5 and departed from Casablanca on that day,” Zharikova said, noting that she and her family will proceed to Moscow from Istanbul.

“We were not required to go to quarantine, and it was easy for me to arrange this flight,” said Mehmet Bağ, a Turkish businessman residing in Morocco.

Passengers, who took the flight to Istanbul, were asked to provide a valid negative PCR test result and vaccine certificate.