Moldovans blocked in foreign airports helped by Moldovan embassies and consulates

The Moldovan citizens who remained blocked in foreign airports due to the volcanic ash cloud coming from Iceland can seek help from the embassies and diplomatic missions of Moldova abroad. In a news conference on April 19, the Foreign Affairs Ministry's secretary general Mihai Capatana said the foreigners who are at the Chisinau International Airport will not be subject to restrictions, Info-Prim Neo reports According to the Ministry, a Moldovan delegation consisting of nine journalists and representatives of nongovernmental organizations had been at the airport in Turkey's Istanbul since April 17. They could not get to the airport in Odessa. Mihai Capatana said the Moldovan Consulate General in Istanbul helped them obtain transit visas for Bulgaria and Romania and set off from Istanbul to Iasi by bus on Monday afternoon. The official also said that the Ministry asked the airline Air Moldova to inform those blocked in Istanbul that they can travel by other units of transport as well, but it did not do it. Another six Moldovans who were flying from the U.S. to Moldova are now at the airport in Frankfurt. They were offered to be issued with visas to travel by train to Chisinau, but they refused and will wait until the flights resume, Capatana said. Nine Moldovans, three of whom children, were traveling to Dublin, but stopped in Riga. They also refused to be issued with visas to return to Moldova and will wait until the airspace opens. Mihai Capatana also said that the employees of the Moldovan embassies abroad who refused to provide assistance to Moldovan citizens will be penalized. The Ministry has not been yet informed about such cases. A number of European countries reopened the airports today. The Chisinau International Airport will remain closed until tomorrow, April 20, by 15.00. .