Another group of Kazakh nationals evacuated from Middle East

According to those who arrived, the trip from Doha to Riyadh by bus took about 13 hours, followed by more than 10 hours of travel to Jeddah.

Throughout the journey, the passengers were accompanied by the staff of Kazakhstan’s diplomatic missions abroad.

One of the passengers, Gulnur Botakanova, highlighted the assistance provided by the Government and Kazakhstan’s embassy.

“We are grateful to the Government and the Embassy of Kazakhstan. We were escorted from Doha to Saudi Arabia, where representatives of the Kazakh Embassy met us. Six buses traveled in a convoy, under constant supervision. We felt supported. While staying at the hotel, we heard loud noises outside, saw flashes, and received alarm signals on our phones. At those moments, it was frightening,” she said.

Another passenger, Gulzhipa Begimbayeva, shared that she had been in Qatar on vacation.

“We went to Qatar for a holiday. We are glad that in such a difficult situation we safely returned home. It was very frightening - we startled at every loud sound and worried about how we would get back. We were supposed to fly out a day later, but on the afternoon of February 28th, strikes began while we were at the hotel. The next day, the Embassy contacted us and relocated us to another place, where we stayed for two days. Then we traveled by bus to Saudi Arabia,” she said.

Most of the passengers had been in Qatar for vacation. Among those who returned were students who had been studying there. According to them, classes have now been temporarily switched to an online format.

“Starting next week, we will continue our studies from Kazakhstan. The embassies of Kazakhstan in Qatar and Saudi Arabia provided us with comprehensive support,” said student Olzhasbek Zhakenov.

Earlier, Qazinform reported that 34 employees of the Zarkukh gold mining enterprise were evacuated via the Agarak checkpoint from Iran to Armenia amid escalating conflict in the Middle East.