• Home

15 nationals evacuated from fire-hit areas in US

DUBAI — As many as 25 UAE nationals, mainly students, have been located living close to the areas hit by wildfires in California, and 15 of them were flown from San Diego to Seattle on Tuesday, the UAE Ambassador to the US told Khaleej Times yesterday.

Saqr Ghobash, the UAE Ambassador based in Washington D.C. told KT over the phone, “At the beginning, we covered the whole of California to find out how many locals and students are living there. We focused on the areas close to the wildfires and located 25 nationals living in San Diego, mainly students. We have arranged for 15 students to leave San Diego and they have flown to Seattle, where they are staying in a hotel. All 15 students are fine.”

He said, “Of the remaining, nine have chosen to stay back as they feel it is safe. They are now living together in two groups, one of six and the other of three. The tenth chose to leave the area by car.” Among the 25 locals identified and contacted by the UAE Embassy, 22 are students from different colleges in San Diego, while the remaining are visitors to the USA.

Ghobash remarked that relocating the students and ensuring that they were safe had been the first step.

“Now we have to start thinking of the second step about bringing them back and if they need to look for another accommodation,” he observed. If the fire has been controlled, the students can go back to their respective homes.

The students have been furnished with all the contact details of the embassy and diplomats to get in touch for assistance, if required. Officials from the US Embassy in the UAE said they had not received any queries so far from residents regarding the California wildfires. The embassy has also set up a free hotline number: 1800 823 6911.