Hungary FM: Government Airlifts 1,223 People Out of War-Torn Middle East

The Hungarian government has brought additional Hungarian citizens home from the Middle East region affected by war, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto reported on his social media page. Hungarian embassies and consulates operating in the region are providing round-the-clock service.

Peter Szijjarto, Hungary's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Source: Facebook)

In the post, Szijjarto said the situation in the region remains tense, as missile and drone attacks from Iran against Arab countries continue.

Peter Szijjarto, Hungary's Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister  (Photo: MTI/Tamas Purger)

For this reason, another evacuation flight was launched, which returned to Budapest last night.

The aircraft picked up passengers in two Middle Eastern capitals.

This flight took on passengers in Muscat and Riyadh, the capitals of Oman and Saudi Arabia, respectively—63 people in total, including 56 Hungarians who had traveled there from Kuwait City, Doha, and Dubai. With this, we have completed a total of twelve evacuation flights. Thirteen had been planned, but there were no applicants for the thirteenth yesterday.

More Than 1,200 People Rescued

The foreign minister said:

In total, we have brought home 1,223 people from the Middle Eastern war zone with our evacuation flights, nine of which were carried out by the air force of the Hungarian Defence Forces, while three were operated by aircraft leased from Flydubai. Of the 1,223 passengers, 1,105 were Hungarian citizens, so more than one thousand Hungarians have been brought home since the outbreak of the war in Iran.

Szijjarto also noted that civilian air traffic in the region has partially resumed. At present, one or two scheduled flights depart daily from Dubai to Budapest, though the security situation could deteriorate rapidly. 

Embassies and consulates operating in the region continue to maintain 24-hour service, seven days a week.

For this reason, all of our embassies and consular sections operating in the region remain on duty around the clock. The emergency phone numbers are well known, and Hungarian citizens can always request assistance through them. I continue to ask everyone who is in the region to register for consular protection, and anyone planning travel there should postpone it if possible, 

Szijjarto concluded.

Cover photo: Peter Szijjarto, Hungary's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Source: Facebook)