Malaysia’s ambassador to Iran, Khairi Omar, who led the group, told the media on Sunday that they had to travel about 1,000km by land to exit Tehran.
According to a statement from the foreign affairs ministry, all 24 individuals crossed the Iran-Turkmenistan border on Jun 21 and boarded Turkmenistan Airlines Flight T5 647 on Jun 22 to Bangkok before continuing their journey to Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia Airlines flight MH781.
The Malaysian embassies in Turkmenistan’s capital Ashgabat and Bangkok facilitated flight arrangements from Ashgabat to Malaysia.
“We chose a route away from the source of the attacks, which were coming from the west, so we headed east. Thankfully, we received strong cooperation from the Turkmenistan government, which allowed foreign nationals to cross the border,” Khairi said, as quoted by Bernama.
For 33-year-old Fadli Yusni, the crisis pushed him to make a bold decision to attempt to fly to Iran to evacuate his wife Zainab, an Iranian national and student in Malaysia who had been stranded in the Islamic Republic while visiting her parents.
“I couldn’t just wait here (in Malaysia). I wanted to go to her and bring her home myself,” he told NST.
“The past 10 days were filled with panic. I kept checking the news, my phone. Every time I couldn’t reach her, I feared the worst,” Fadli said.
The 33-year-old eventually sought help from the Malaysian Embassy in Tehran, which was in close contact with Khairi – the Malaysian ambassador – who assisted Fadli in registering his wife Zainab for evacuation.
