MORE Malaysians returned home today in a repatriation effort by the Foreign Ministry after being stranded in Middle Eastern and North African countries due to flight restrictions triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Deputy Foreign Minister Kamarudin Jaffar, in a statement, said citizens who were stranded in Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco landed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport this afternoon.

“Ninety-one people stranded in Saudi Arabia arrived at KLIA at 1.05pm aboard a Malindo Air flight. They earlier boarded a Saudia Airlines humanitarian flight sent by the Singapore government to bring back its citizens from Saudi Arabia.

“And, 312 Malaysians stranded in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco arrived at 1.40pm aboard a specially chartered AirAsia X aircraft.”

He said 17 Indonesians, Singaporeans (6), Japanese (9) and South Koreans (2) were also allowed to board the flight in the spirit of “Asean solidarity”, and they will take connecting flights to return to their respective countries.

The ministry welcomed the arrival at 5.25am today of 371 Malaysians from Egypt. They paid for their own flight back aboard a Zara Zakiah Sdn Bhd aircraft. – Bernama, April 24, 2020.