Air Force Aerial Refueling Aircraft Heads to Iraq Today

Two Air Refueling Aircraft Deployed for Special Transport of 297 Workers Wishing to Return Home
Confirmed Cases to Be Transferred and Treated at Medical Institutions and Residential Treatment Centers

The Air Force KC-330 aerial refueling aircraft is undergoing inspection at Gimhae Base at 08:00 on the 23rd to safely bring back Korean residents, including workers dispatched to Iraq.

[Asia Economy Reporter Yang Nak-gyu] The government is deploying two military aircraft to repatriate about 290 Korean workers from Iraq, where the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) is spreading.

On the 23rd, the Ministry of National Defense announced that it would dispatch two aerial refueling aircraft (KC-330) to Iraq in the morning to specially transport 297 workers wishing to return home. This is the first time that aerial refueling aircraft have been used to support the transportation of overseas Koreans.

The KC-330 being dispatched this time is the designation used by the Republic of Korea Air Force for the A330MRTT aerial refueling aircraft, which is a modified version of the A330 passenger plane made by Airbus Europe. It can transport up to 300 troops and 47 tons of cargo. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Defense, the rapid response team consists of a total of 12 members, including officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Health and Welfare, military doctors, nursing officers, and quarantine officers, with Lee Heon, Director of the Overseas Koreans Consular Office, serving as the team leader. They check for symptoms before boarding and prepare for emergencies on board. To prevent infection inside the aircraft, the government plans to separate symptomatic and asymptomatic passengers before boarding and limit occupancy to less than 60% of the seats.

The returning workers are scheduled to arrive at Incheon Airport on the morning of the 24th and will undergo quarantine inspection through a separate gate within the airport. All arrivals will receive COVID-19 diagnostic tests; symptomatic individuals will be tested at Incheon Airport, while asymptomatic individuals will be moved to temporary living facilities for testing. Confirmed cases will be transferred to medical institutions or residential treatment centers for care, and those who test negative will be quarantined in temporary living facilities for two weeks until August 7. Medical support personnel, including doctors and nurses, will be stationed at the temporary living facilities to monitor the health status of the residents, including any COVID-19 symptoms.

According to the construction industry and others, about 500 Korean workers are staying in Karbala, located 120 km south of Baghdad, Iraq. At the Karbala site, after the first foreign worker was confirmed positive for COVID-19 on the 9th, additional confirmed cases have been rapidly increasing. On the 20th, a domestic construction company employee in his 40s dispatched to the Siberian region of Russia died from COVID-19. Construction sites have been halted; among the seven confirmed cases, four have recovered and been discharged, but two are still receiving treatment at local hospitals. At this site, local employees and their families who have tested negative are scheduled to return home via charter flight on the 24th.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.