S. Korea pushes to send 3rd evacuation plane to Wuhan

SEOUL, Feb. 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is pushing to send its third chartered flight to the coronavirus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan to bring home its citizens from the locked-down city, government sources said Friday.

The government is fine-tuning details to evacuate around 200 South Koreans, including children and pregnant women, from the epicenter of the deadly contagious virus, they said.

"A considerable amount of preparation has been made to bring back our people living in Wuhan through the third chartered flight," said a government official who asked not to be named. "We do not have details on the date yet, but discussions are under way with an airline."

The South Korean consulate general in Wuhan will conduct a preliminary survey of its nationals in the region to determine the demand for an aerial evacuation.

South Korea's first and second evacuation planes chartered from the country's biggest airline Korean Air Lines Co. flew out a combined 701 South Koreans from Wuhan last month.

South Korea confirmed another case of novel coronavirus infection as of late Friday, bringing the total here to 24, and the patient in the latest one is a South Korean airlifted from Wuhan last week.

khj@yna.co.kr
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