Cape Town - A group of 80 South Africans have been repatriated from Iraq and Jordan on a special flight undertaken by privately owned airline CemAir, the airline said in a statement on Wednesday.
The flight touched down at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on Wednesday morning, July 8.
Stranded for close on four months abroad, many of the South Africans found themselves in deteriorating circumstances, sharing accommodation and relying on the charity of others for their survival.
The CemAir CRJ900 90-seat jet was dispatched from Johannesburg on Monday, July 6, stopping en route in Entebbe (Uganda), Khartoum (Sudan), Amman (Jordan), Erbil (Iraq) and Basra (Iraq) for passenger embarkation and disembarkation, technical stops and crew changes, said the statement.
The jet returned via Djibouti and Entebbe to OR Tambo International Airport.
According to the statement, the passengers will now spend 14 days in quarantine before reuniting with their families in South Africa as per compulsory Covid-19 precautionary measures.
The airline said it was grateful to all the parties involved who supported and completed this complicated flight.
CemAir has operated repatriation flights to and from 20 countries across Africa and the Middle East during the Covid-19 pandemic, bringing more than 1 000 stranded South Africans back home.
As many African countries prepare to relax travel regulations implemented to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the World Health Organization (WHO) is concerned that there could be a surge in infections.
On Wednesday, Africa surpassed the 500 000 mark in coronavirus cases.
In a statement, the WHO said it was crucial that governments take effective measures to mitigate the risk of a surge in infections due to the resumption of commercial flights and airport operations.