On the directive of King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, family members of Saudi embassy staff and Saudi visitors were evacuated by a private plane Thursday from Moscow, which has choked for days on acrid smog from wildfires. The evacuees will be provided transportation from King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh to their home cities across the Kingdom, Ambassador Osama Naqli, the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency. Russia Thursday stepped up efforts to halt wildfires near its main nuclear research site, as President Dmitry Medvedev said a quarter of crops had been lost in a record heatwave. Naqli also said that all Saudi citizens in Pakistan and their families were evacuated during the last few days from flood-affected areas to the Pakistani port city of Karachi, where they will stay until conditions return to normal.
