DFA Zamboanga Consular Team Assists in the Repatriation of 13 Stranded Foreigners

Passengers get cleared for baggage at the Edwin and Andrews Airbase. (Zamboanga CO photo)

ZAMBOANGA 04 May 2020 – The Department of Foreign Affairs’ (DFA) Consular Office in Zamboanga helped facilitate the repatriation flight for 13 stranded foreigners from different countries at the Edwin and Andrews Airbase on 29 April 2020.

Two Filipino nationals with resident permits abroad also joined the flight, bringing the total passengers to 15.

All passengers were provided meals and local transportation service by the Department of Tourism Region 9.

Since the cancellation of domestic flights following President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of enhanced community quarantine effective 17 March 2020, a total of five (5) sweeper flights have been carried out in Zamboanga City.

The recent evacuation was the third round of recovery flights that deployed a Philippine Air Force (PAF) plane to pick up stranded foreigners from the Zamboanga Peninsula and bring them to Manila, where they can later take outbound flights to their respective countries. Similar flights took place on 14 and 19 April 2020.

The military aircraft, which carried American, French, German and Filipino citizens, left the airbase at 1:11 P.M. and arrived at NAIA Terminal 1 at 4:30 P.M.  All passengers followed standard medical protocols on COVID-19.

The repatriation of stranded foreign travelers was a joint effort of the DFA, the DOT, and other partner agencies with the support of Secretary Carlito G. Galvez Jr., Chief Implementer, National Task Force against COVID-19. END

Airport staff wear protective suits while disinfecting the passengers’ baggage. (Zamboanga CO photo)

Stranded foreigners wear protective masks while waiting for the military plane to arrive at the Edwin and Andrews Airbase. (Zamboanga CO photo)

Stranded foreigners board the military plane bound for Manila. (Zamboanga CO photo)

The DFA and DOT frontliners with the stranded foreigners aboard the military plane before take-off. (Zamboanga CO photo)