The plane that evacuates 74 from Niger travels to Spain, including about twenty Spaniards

MADRID, 4 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Air Force and Space plane that has traveled to Niger for the evacuation of citizens who want to leave the country after the coup d'état is already traveling to Spain with a total of 74 people on board of 19 different nationalities, including they are about twenty Spaniards.

The aircraft, an Air Force A330, arrived this Friday in the capital of Niger, Niamey, to evacuate the Spaniards who still remain in the African country after the coup.

The plane took off around 2:00 p.m. (Spanish time) and is already traveling to Spain with a total of 74 people of 19 nationalities on board. Among them are about twenty Spaniards, as confirmed to Europa Press by government sources.

A first group of Spaniards already left the country this Wednesday in a plane chartered by France that took them to Paris. In Niger there was a colony of about 70 Spaniards, although some of them have decided not to leave the country, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Government has recalled this week that the Spanish Embassy in Niger has these days available to Spaniards in the country an email and an emergency telephone number to coordinate the evacuation operation.

Last week, a group of soldiers ousted the Nigerian president, Mohamed Bazoum. Niger has experienced four other -- now five -- coups since it gained independence from France in 1960, as well as several failed attempts, the last of which was in 2021, days before Bazoum took office.