COLOMBO : The Sri Lankan Ambassador to Israel, Nimal Bandara has assured that all Sri Lankans living in Israel are safe amidst attacks carried out by Iran.
Issuing a statement, Bandara said that although Iran targeted Israel with more than 500 shells and missiles Saturday night (April 13), Israel’s Iron Dome system has managed to neutralize all of them.
“Apart from an injury to a little girl [Israeli], no one in Israel has been reported to have been injured so far”, the Sri Lankan envoy in Tel Aviv assured.
Meanwhile, he stated that flight FZ 1625 belonging to the Fly Dubai airline operated from Dubai to Tel Aviv last night at 08.10 p.m. while traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv, was diverted to Dubai as soon as the information about the air attacks came to light.
Bandara expressed that there were Sri Lankans on the flight, who were on the way to Israel and that information about them is being disclosed.
The Sri Lankan Ambassador in Israel also said: “In view of the current situation, flights travelling through Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Israel, etc., bypass the region and return to many countries in Europe via other routes. Therefore, I would like to inform the people who have obtained air tickets to travel to the Middle East region and European countries to check their air tickets again.”
“There are delays on flights to and from Israel”, he added.
Meanwhile, there was an event held at Ganshakar Stadium in Jerusalem with the participation of about two thousand Sri Lankans till 9.00 p.m., Bandara mentioned, adding that all the Sri Lankans who participated in the event had left for their residences safely.
“The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Israel is always concerned about the safety of the Sri Lankans here and I would like to inform them not to create any unnecessary fear about their safety”, he added.