Spain military aircraft flies to Dubai to evacuate personnel from Afghanistan

Madrid, Aug 20 (EFE).- A Spanish military plane carrying 110 evacuees from Afghanistan took off from Kabul Friday to land in Dubai.

Some 50 out of the passengers are to travel on to Spain, according to the Foreign Affairs minister, José Manuel Albares.

Among the passengers are three Afghan families from the embassy in Kabul and captain of the Afghan paralympic basketball team, Nilofar Bayat among others.

This is the second flight of evacuations operated by the Spanish military.

On Thursday a first flight landed in Spain with 48 Afghans and 5 Spaniards.

Another flight carrying 36 Afghans after stopping in Rome landed in Spain to be redistributed among EU Member States.

Spain on Thursday offered to create a hub for Afghan refugees to be evacuated from Kabul to the European Union.

Albares assured the government would not stop trying to locate people who have worked for the Spanish institutions in Afghanistan but acknowledged that they are facing difficulties in contacting them.

“We are not going to leave anyone behind,” Albares told Cadena Ser radio. EFE

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