Another 180 Russians stranded in Vietnam fly home

A Siberia Airlines flight took off from the Cam Ranh International Airport in Khanh Hoa Province at 9:08 a.m. to the Russian city of Novosibirsk, Vietnam Plus reported.

It carried more than 180 Russian tourists who’d been traveling in the popular beach destinations of Nha Trang, Mui Ne and Phu Quoc when they were stranded by the suspension of flights due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Russian Consulate General in HCMC dispatched staff to take all stranded Russian citizens to the Cam Ranh Airport near Nha Trang in the central province of Khanh Hoa.

In the first repatriation flight from Vietnam organized by Russia, 178 citizens were taken home April 20 on a Siberia Airlines charter flight.

Le Van Nghia, chief representative of Siberia Airlines in Vietnam, said the carrier was planning another flight that will depart from Cam Ranh and land in Russia’s Vladivostok City.

"Many of the repatriated people were stranded in Vietnam due to flight cancellations and faced economic difficulties due to the pandemic," Nghia told Khanh Hoa Newspaper.

Over 3,000 foreign tourists are stuck in Vietnam but only 11 percent of them wish to go home immediately, earlier reports have said.

After Vietnam halted all international flights as a preventive measure to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, many countries have organized special flights to repatriate their citizens.

The Philippines embassy repatriated 143 people last week.

Earlier hundreds of Europeans including British, Germans and Italians were also sent home from Vietnam.