A total of 229 Australian citizens arrived shortly before Saturday noon at Larnaca Airport from Beirut, and despite the hardship, expressed thanks to the Republic of Cyprus for facilitating their transport from the war zone. Australian High Commissioner to the Republic of Cyprus, Fiona McKergow, in her statements, expressed satisfaction for the first arrivals from Lebanon of 229 Australian citizens, and thanked the Cypriot authorities and the Government and the Republic of Cyprus 'for allowing us and working with us to enable the safe departure of Australians from Beirut' but also for the transit accommodation that they will be providing. She added that the people were exhausted, 'exceptionally happy to be here, but heartbroken because they've left family', and that 'they are looking forward to being able to sleep.' The High Commissioner said that they were currently working with other airlines for onward movement of the group to Australia as soon as possible. 'We're working as much as possible and as fas t as possible with our airline and our commercial airline providers', she said, noting that she did not anticipate that these would be the last arrivals. Asked whether the transfer of Australian citizens would continue, McKergow said that 'there is a need, we will work to have facilitated departures for Australians while Beirut airport remains open.' 'The message we need to give to those Australians in Lebanon is, now is the time to leave, we encourage people to register on our crisis portal or contact the crisis emergency centre and register their interest in departing', she added. On whether flights would continue, she said that this first flight was almost full, 'which is very encouraging', but that she could not comment on the numbers. Asked about how long they would stay in Cyprus before departing for Australia, the High Commissioner said that they were working with commercial airlines on the travel while the Cypriot authorities 'have been very welcoming and accommodated them in temporary transit acc ommodation, at least for tonight'. 'We hope to have onward travel arrangements on commercial flights tomorrow', she added. Theodoros Gotsis, Cyprus' Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said that today the first flight from Beirut arrived, carrying a total of 229 Australian citizens, while this would continue during the weekend. A second flight from Beirut carrying Australian citizens is expected in the afternoon, he said, adding that their temporary accommodation will be arranged so that from tomorrow they can begin their departure to Australia on larger aircraft. He noted that assisting the departure of foreign nationals and arrangements during their stay in Cyprus was part of the Estia national plan. 'Once again, we need to support our partners, in this case Australia, so that they can support their citizens who are in need', Gotsis said. Replying to a question, Gotsis said that 'just as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Constantinos Kombos, has repeatedly emphasised, providing assistance to and cooperation w ith other countries is our obligation in the region, given that there are such needs, unfortunately quite often in the last year and a half.' 'It is part of our responsibility as a member state in the region, to provide humanitarian aid, either through - in this case - assisting in the departure of third-country nationals, or through evacuations, or as previously done with the Amalthea Plan, provision of humanitarian aid', he added. Gotsis also said that, so far there are no requests from other countries for large evacuation operations. 'There is, however, cooperation with all the countries which throughout this year, have been constantly reassessing the prevailing situation, examine the needs of their citizens' and when the need arises, they inform the Republic of Cyprus so that there is response as was done in the last few days, he said. Replying to a question, Gotsis said that since yesterday there has been a cooperation process with Slovakia, which sent a small military aircraft to evacuate its nationa ls from Lebanon. So far, the aircraft has made three flights and around 100 people have been evacuated, he added. The Australian citizens who arrived in Cyprus expressed their relief for being out of the war zone, said that they were satisfied to be in a safe country away from hostilities and expressed special thanks to the Republic of Cyprus for assisting in their evacuation from Lebanon. Several of the passengers were elderly and women with young children and said their children were the main reason they left Lebanon, while one young woman whose house was destroyed in the bombings said she would never return to Lebanon. As in similar cases, the passengers will be taken to the Larnaca military training centre where they will spend the night, and it is expected that they will start their journey to Australia on Sunday. A second flight with more than 200 citizens was expected to arrive from Beirut at Larnaca airport on Saturday afternoon. Source: Cyprus News Agency