Flights from Sofia to Dubai and Tel Aviv remain cancelled

Around 1,400 Bulgarian tourists have been stranded due to the ongoing military escalation in the Middle East, officials said during a briefing by the crisis task force established on the recommendation of Foreign Minister Nadezhda Neynski.

The largest group, numbering around 800 people, is currently in Dubai and Jordan. According to the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA), Bulgarian tourist groups are also stranded in destinations including the Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Oman, following airport closures and cancelled flights transiting through Oman or Doha.

Irena Dimitrova, head of the Foreign Ministry’s Situation Centre Directorate, said that more than 150 emails and 180 phone calls had been received following appeals for Bulgarian nationals to register via the Situation Centre’s website, send emails or confirm by phone that they are in the affected region.

'We are fully prepared to send aircraft once a safe corridor becomes available, in order to begin the gradual evacuation of Bulgarian citizens who wish to leave the region,' said caretaker Foreign Minister Neynski.

Speaking to bTV, Neynski added that it remains unclear when such an opportunity might arise, and advised Bulgarian nationals to stay in secure locations and await official instructions from the authorities. She stressed that Bulgaria’s consulates, embassies and central offices are operating around the clock.

Neynski has held telephone talks with her counterparts: the Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Sa'ar; the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister, Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah; and the Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi.

The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry also announced that Neynski participated in a videoconference meeting of EU foreign ministers. Following a meeting of EU member states’ permanent representatives in Brussels, BTA reported that there are currently no plans for the immediate evacuation of EU citizens from the Middle East.

Editor: Ivo Ivanov