ISLAMABAD: PIA chief Air Marshal (retd) Arshad Malik on Friday talked to Pakistan’s Ambassador to Ukraine Major General (retd) Noel Israel Khokhar and discussed different options to evacuate the Pakistani students stranded there.
A flight operation was prepared to evacuate 2,000 Pakistanis trapped in Ukraine. According to the plan, all Pakistani students will gather in Ukraine’s Ternopil city.
The embassy will make arrangements to transport the students via the ground route to Poland. A PIA Boeing 777 will airlift the Pakistani students from Poland. The PIA CEO further said that preparations are underway to operate the evacuation flight.
The flight will immediately depart for Poland to bring back the students. He vowed that the national flag carrier will take all-out efforts to evacuate all Pakistanis from the war zone.
Later, Arsahd Malik, in a tweet, said currently the airspace of Ukraine was closed but various options were being worked out for safe evacuation of the Pakistani students.
I spoke to HE Gen Noel, our ambassador in Ukraine, he was wide awake with his full team in embassy, discussed various options to recover our students through #PIA, airspace is closed but working out various options In Sha Allah, we shall find a way, PIA is a call away
— Air Marshal Arshad Malik (@amarshadmalik) February 25, 2022
“I spoke to HE Gen Noel, our ambassador in Ukraine, he was wide awake with his full team in embassy, discussed various options to recover our students through #PIA, airspace is closed but working out various options In Sha Allah, we shall find a way, PIA is a call away,” he tweeted.
Earlier in the day, PIA CEO Air Marshal Arshad Malik had announced that the airline was ready to bring back stranded Pakistani students from Ukraine, following an attack from Russia.
Speaking to a private media outlet, Air Marshal Arshad Malik said that PIA could operate special flights to bring back stranded students.
“We are in touch with foreign ministry officials for the return of stranded students in Ukraine,” he said and added, “As soon as we get a green signal, we will operate flights for those trapped in war-hit Ukraine.”
Pakistan embassy in Ukraine confirmed that all Pakistanis in Ukraine are safe and they are reaching out to them to assure their well being and evacuation.
