The IOM (International Organization for Migration) in collaboration with the Sierra Leone Consulate in Lebanon has successfully organized the repatriation of a total of 168 stranded Sierra Leonean migrant workers from Lebanon. They departed from the Hariri International Airport in Beirut yesterday.

The first batch of stranded Sierra Leonean migrant workers left Lebanon for Sierra Leone on 5th November, 2024.

The well-coordinated repatriation of Sierra Leonean migrant workers came as a result of the Israeli unprovoked invasion of Lebanon.

The Sierra Leone Consulate in Lebanon in collaboration with the IOM and the Sierra Leonean Community Committee in Lebanon had mobilized support and shelter for stranded Sierra Leonean migrant workers in Lebanon when the bombardment intensified. Some of them were housed in safe shelters on the fringes of Beirut, in order to protect them from the sporadic bombing that was and still taking place in and around Beirut.

The stranded Sierra Leonean migrant workers were given much-needed support in terms of food, health care and accommodation.

They have expressed delight over the way they were treated by officials of the Sierra Leonean Consulate in Lebanon and IOM.

They offered special prayers for the departed soul of the highly respected late Sierra Leonean Consul in Lebanon, Pa Hashim Hussein Hashim, who died in Lebanon in September this year. They described him as a father-figure.