Lhe Belgian military aircraft that left Cologne (Germany) on Thursday morning to repatriate Europeans from Beirut took off from the Lebanese capital towards Brussels, Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib announced late Thursday.
On board are 58 Belgians and beneficiaries and 53 Dutch, French and Luxembourgers, or 111 passengers. The plane is expected around 9:15 p.m. in Melsbroek.
“The number of Belgians who have expressed the wish to leave Lebanon has increased in recent days. It was therefore important for us to offer a flight quickly,” commented the minister.
More than 150 Belgians and rights holders have already been able to leave the country since last week. We are talking here about nationals who took one of the two Dutch flights or the Belgian flight, not counting Belgians who had booked a commercial flight.
“We are monitoring the situation on site, and will continue to accompany and support Belgians living in Lebanon and to provide solutions to those who want to leave,” adds the minister.
All Belgians registered with the embassy (1,800) had been contacted and informed of the theft. Those who had expressed the intention to leave Lebanon were contacted several times until Thursday morning, according to Foreign Affairs. Others signaled they may plan to leave the country later.
The organization of assisted departures of Belgian nationals from Lebanon is part of the European coordination established through the European Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM). This mechanism allows, among other things, coordination of responses provided by different countries and pooling of resources.
Initially, it was planned that an Airbus A330 would leave on Wednesday for Beirut with medical equipment worth 150,000 euros for the Lebanese authorities, and that it would return to Brussels with Belgians and Europeans. But the plane had to turn around over the Adriatic Sea due to a technical problem. Another aircraft therefore left Cologne this morning around 10 a.m.
On Wednesday, another military plane which was on its way to Lebanon to pick up Belgians with a view to their repatriation, was forced to turn around. The Defense says he encountered technical problems.
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