Indonesia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi said yesterday that at least 80 Indonesian nationals who were evacuated from Ukraine had landed in Jakarta after around 17 hours of travel.
There were also three foreign nationals in the group who were family members of the evacuated Indonesians, all of whom were in a Garuda Indonesia flight that landed at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport yesterday evening. In a speech during the group’s welcoming ceremony yesterday, Retno said that the evacuation process started on Tuesday.
The pick-up team from Jakarta departed from Indonesia on Tuesday evening and landed at Henri Coanda Airport, Bucharest on Wednesday evening. The group had to wait for five-and-a-half hours before their plane was allowed to leave the Romanian capital at night to fly back to Jakarta, with the 17-hour returning flight including a transit in Madinah, Saudi Arabia.
“The journey that the Indonesian nationals went through was not easy, they had to go through a number of checks amid the curfew that’s currently being enforced there [in Ukraine],” Retno said.
According to Retno, 12 Indonesian nationals had to stay behind in Bucharest as they tested positive for COVID-19, while another two decided to stay to accompany their infected children.
“The 14 Indonesian nationals will continue to be monitored and assisted by the Indonesian Embassy in Bucharest. If their health conditions allow, they will be returned using commercial flights,” Retno said.
The arriving group from Ukraine will have to undergo a medical and immigration document checks before being allowed to reunite with their family in Indonesia.
The group was seen closely guarded by officials at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport Terminal 2. Local media reported that there was a woman from the group who shouted at journalists as she demanded privacy, while another expressed their gratitude that they had been safely rescued by the Indonesian government from Ukraine.
“Not now, we’re very traumatized,” the woman said.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has entered its ninth day. The large-scale military invasion, which started on Feb. 24, has left at least 9,100 people dead in various regions across the Eastern European nation, with at least a million people displaced, many of whom are fleeing to neighboring countries including Poland.
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