Evacuation of Vietnamese workers from Equatorial Guinea in the pipeline
VOV.VN - National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines has been urged to devise a range of scenarios in order to arrange a repatriation flight for 219 Vietnamese guest workers who have been left stranded in Equatorial Guinea.
The move comes after the Ministry of Transport had sent a document to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam to direct Vietnam Airlines to come up with plans for the special flight.
At a recent Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc requested that relevant agencies move to conduct a special flight that is capable of evacuating the guest workers from the West African nation.
Taking into account the technical conditions of the air route itself and the infrastructure at the airport in the host country, Vietnam Airlines and related agencies have developed four scenarios suitable for the repatriation flight.
Accordingly, three of the scenarios opt to use one wide-body aircraft A350 to conduct a direct flight to Equatorial Guinea to bring back the Vietnamese guest workers.
The remaining scheme sees the use of two narrow-body aircraft A321, one of which will be specifically for carrying workers infected by the novel coronavirus, while the other will transport healthy workers in an attempt to lower the spreading risk of the virus.
However, for the last option the two planes must transit in the United Arab Emirates for the departure trip and via Saudi Arabia and India on the return flight.
The repatriation flight itself can be considered unprecedented, as Vietnam has no direct flights to Equatorial Guinea, a nation with poor infrastructure conditions and ongoing conflict.
It was reported that half of the Vietnamese guest workers who are set to board the flight have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Relevant agencies are considering plans to ensure the workers’ health condition remains stable throughout the journey.
