At least 5,000 Americans who are in need of evacuation back to the U.S. are reportedly stranded in Peru after the country closed its borders and halted commercial flights in an attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus.
Rep. Chris Smith, New Jersey Republican, said Tuesday that several hundred of those U.S. citizens are located in remote parts of Peru where air quality is thin, making air travel difficult, and a curfew is strictly enforced by local law enforcement.
“It’s time to let these Americans and their worried families in the U.S. know that their country will employ more resources to bring them home safely,” he said in a statement.
A senior State Department official told reporters Monday the agency is mobilizing to get in touch with Americans who are in particularly remote parts of the world. “It’s complicated,” they said.
Mr. Smith, who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has urged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to evacuate the Americans in Peru “by any appropriate, practicable and timely manner” and suggested chartering private or commercial planes or using available military aircraft.
The secretary has said the department is working with commercial and private airlines to fly U.S. citizens to an undisclosed destination in the U.S., while other Americans could find themselves flying back on a Defense Department flight “where there is space available.”
Over 13,500 Americans have contacted the department for help arranging transportation back to the U.S., the official said. Roughly 5,000 Americans have returned from 17 countries, with 1,600 more expected to fly home this week.
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