State Department gathers them from 28 countries.
With many national borders shut down and severely curtailed international flights, the State Department has learned of over 13,500 Americans stranded in 28 countries that it needed to bring home. It is an unprecedented challenge even just tracking the citizens abroad who need help getting home.
A number of evacuation flights carried hundreds of Americans back home, many of them back from Latin America. More are still awaiting return to the U.S.
Spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus says the State Department “has never before undertaken an evacuation operation of such geographic breadth, scale, and complexity.”
She said U.S. embassies and consulates around the world are continuing to try to arrange flights for Americans.
The department has allocated funds for at least 16 flights over the next five days, are working with mission groups to help evacuate Americans and are encouraging private airlines to increase flight options, the official said.
State Department policy is to have U.S. citizens exhaust all commercial options of travel before chartered evacuation flights can be considered.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For Americans who are stranded abroad and their need to return home.
- For efforts to retrieve Americans who are in areas of high conflict or within countries that have closed their borders.
- For the cooperation of foreign governments in granting landing privileges and other assistance to the State Department in order to evacuate Americans.
Sources: The Hill, Newsmax
