KUALA LUMPUR, July 11 — Twenty-five Malaysians in Lagos, Nigeria arrived home at 9.15 this morning on a repatriation flight arranged by the Nigerian government via an Air Peace aircraft.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Datuk Kamarudin Jaffar said the return of the second group of Malaysians was facilitated by the Malaysian High Commission in Abuja, Nigeria with the costs borne by the passengers.

“On this occasion, on behalf of the Malaysian government, I would like to express my gratitude to the Nigerian government for helping to bring back the group of Malaysians,” he said in a statement today.

On June 24, 27 Malaysians in Nigeria returned home on a repatriation flight organised by the United Arab Emirates government.

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According to the statement, the plane today also carried 67 passengers from various countries stranded in Nigeria since the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic including nine Australians; Brunei (three); China (one); Philippines (three); Indonesia (one) and Canada (one).

Six Nigerians; Pakistan (one); Singapore (one); Taiwan (nine); and 32 Thais were also on board the aircraft and transiting at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) before continuing their journey home with their scheduled commercial flights.

In the same statement, Kamarudin who is also the Chairman of the Foreign Ministry Covid-19 Task Force also said that 11 Malaysian students from Khartoum, Sudan had returned home via Emirates Airlines’ repatriation flight at 2.35 pm yesterday (Khartoum time) and arrived at KLIA at 3.44 this evening.

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He said the return of the group of Malaysians was facilitated by the Malaysian Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan with the costs privately borne by the passengers.

Kamarudin said the Foreign Ministry through the Malaysian diplomatic missions abroad would continue to monitor the current situation and work with local authorities in an effort to provide appropriate assistance to Malaysians affected by Covid-19. — Bernama