Japanese flying home from the Middle East pass 1,000

The sixth government-chartered flight carrying Japanese nationals who had been stranded in Gulf countries and other parts of the Middle East due to the escalating conflict in Iran arrived in Japan on the morning of March 14.

The total number of Japanese nationals repatriated now stands at 1,086. According to the Foreign Ministry, all Japanese nationals who wished to return via chartered flights have now been evacuated.

The latest flight, which lifted off from Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, carried 220 people seeking to leave countries such as Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Two Taiwanese were among the passengers as part of mutual cooperation regarding evacuation efforts.

On March 13, the fifth charter flight arrived from Muscat, the capital of Oman. It carried 42 Japanese nationals and four South Koreans.