site.btaUPDATED First Plane with Bulgarians from Dubai Lands at Varna Airport

The first plane carrying 178 Bulgarians from Dubai landed at Varna Airport on Wednesday.

It was part of a series of special flights organized to return Bulgarian citizens from Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Oman on March 4-5, who are stranded there due to the conflict in the Middle East.

Since the very beginning of the conflict in the Middle East, the situation in Dubai has been under control, Pavlina Ruseva, a tour guide and representative of the tour operator company, which brought back the Bulgarian nationals to Varna, told journalists.

"People are not stressed. Adequate measures were taken on site, and we even managed to carry out a large part of our programme," Ruseva said. According to her, security control in Dubai has been tightened, and every hotel has distributed information about the new rules, along with instructions and useful guidance for guests. "Explosions from rockets could be heard, but they were not very loud, as the strikes were mainly directed toward the gulf, which is relatively close to the hotel areas," Ruseva added.

She noted that Bulgaria Air had significant contribution to organizing the flight, as they managed to obtain all the necessary permits to operate it. According to Ruseva, this was the fourth flight in the past two days, with previous flights carrying tourists from Italy, Spain, and Slovenia.

She expressed hope that the evacuation of the remaining Bulgarian tourists would begin tomorrow.

Ruseva added that it is not possible to say exactly how many Bulgarians are currently in Dubai. It is estimated that there are between 2,000 and 2,500 people, some of whom work there while others are on vacation.