An Air Montenegro aircraft, carrying numerous passengers, including those from Kosovo and Albania, has safely landed in Podgorica after departing from Israel on Tuesday morning.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro made an announcement on social media, revealing that “101 passengers arrived in Podgorica from Israel, representing a mix of nationalities from Montenegro, Albania, Croatia, North Macedonia, Kosovo, the United States, Slovenia, Serbia, and Sweden”.
#AirMontenegro flight from Tel Aviv 🇮🇱 has landed this morning in Podgorica🇲🇪, with 101 passengers from Montenegro and eight more countries: 🇦🇱 🇭🇷 🇽🇰🇲🇰 🇺🇲 🇸🇮 🇷🇸 🇸🇪. 1/2
— MFA Montenegro (@MFA_MNE) October 10, 2023
Albanian authorities have disclosed that among those who reached Albania via Montenegro, there were 11 Albanian citizens.
Just two days ago, Israel evacuated forty Albanians, including individuals from Kosovo and North Macedonia.
Meri Kumbe, Albania’s Ambassador to Israel, informed the media that 43 Albanian citizens have also sought evacuation, and efforts are actively underway to facilitate their safe return. She also stressed that collaborative work is ongoing with regional countries to organize the departure of all citizens contacting the embassies of these respective states.
On October 9, an Embraer 195 aircraft transported 116 Israeli tourists who had been staying in Montenegro back to Israel.
The evacuation flight to Podgorica was conducted at 03:17 in the early morning hours.
Following the initial list of Montenegrin citizens applying for repatriation, the passenger list was expanded to include individuals awaiting evacuation from various other countries, with ongoing communication with the relevant authorities in those nations.
As reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the case of six Montenegrin citizens located in the southern Israeli city of Eilat who were unable to travel to Tel Aviv and board the flight due to security concerns, the Ministry facilitated their border crossing into Jordan and transfer to the nearest airport.
Israel declared a state of war on October 7 in response to an attack by Palestinian militants from Hamas.
Subsequently, the Israeli military initiated airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, resulting in over 1,600 casualties on both sides.
