KUALA LUMPUR: There may be a slight delay in the arrival of 137 Malaysians and their families from Wuhan, China today.
A Malaysian Embassy spokesman in China said the delay was due to some intricacies in the evacuation process and coordination involved.
"Although the preparation and logistics arrangements are on track after a telephone call between Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, there is a slight complexity in the clearance process which has resulted in the delay.
"We have given the updated list of the 137 Malaysians to the Chinese authorities and they expect to leave upon clearance," he said.
He added that the Malaysian Ambassador to China, Raja Datuk Nushirwan Zainal Abidin had also sent out a personal message to each Malaysian involved in the evacuation exercise to assure them they would leave China by today.
Nushirwan’s message read: "Today is the day to bring Malaysians home from Wuhan. The Malaysian Government and the embassy have taken all the necessary steps to ensure a smooth process.
"Our embassy in Wuhan will keep everyone updated on the development regarding the delay from the original schedule of the departure time. Rest assured that you will be on the flight. Stay calm, be patient and make sure you stay in touch and be safe.”
He added that the Malaysian Embassy observation team that arrived in Wuhan yesterday was tasked to operate a secretariat room and communicate with the local authorities in the Hubei Province to ensure the evacuation of the Malaysians and their families could be done smoothly.
“The team also manage the logistics needs at the airport in Wuhan.”
Wuhan was the epicentre of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) which was reported to have killed more than 360 people in China so far.