Finland has evacuated approximately 50 additional people from Afghanistan, according to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
In a statement issued on Friday, the ministry said that 37 of the evacuees arrived in Finland on Thursday evening. About 10 other people have been evacuated from Afghanistan and will arrive in Finland in coming weeks.
The group that arrived on Thursday included former employees of Finland's embassy in Kabul and their family members. Additionally, Finnish citizens or foreign permanent residents covered by consular services laws were also in the group.
Last week, evacuees travelled from Afghanistan to Pakistan, then onward to Finland via Germany, the ministry said. The evacuation operation was jointly carried out by a ministry consular mission and Pakistani authorities. Also taking part were members of German, Dutch and Nordic missions in Islamabad, countries which were also evacuating embassy workers via Pakistan.
In August, the government made three separate decisions to evacuate a total of 298 people from Afghanistan to Finland.
The ministry said that work on evacuations were continuing as there are still people in Afghanistan needing, and entitled to, consular assistance.
