On May 15th, 2019 - The US Government ordered all non-essential staff to leave Iraq due to heightened tensions between Iraq and Iran.
Due to this alert, a special risks insurer ordered all NGO staff under its policy to also leave Iraq.
Traveller Assist were contacted at 11:00hrs local-time on May 15th to evacuate 26 NGO workers from Iraq. 14 from Baghdad and 12 from Erbil.
Unfortunately, the worlds media reported that the US Government were evacuating their staff which increased the security threat to vehicles travelling between the International Zone in Baghdad, to Baghdad's international airport.
The decision was made by Traveller Assist security staff to evacuate the NGO employees via helicopter, directly into the airports in both Baghdad and Erbil.
The Traveller Assist security assistance team coordinated helicopter lifts in both locations and booked onward flights from Baghdad and Erbil to Amman, Jordan.
By 18:00hrs local-time, Traveller Assist had successfully evacuated all 26 NGO staff from Iraq to Jordan, and safely transported them to three separate hotels to comply with the NGO's business continuity plan.
Traveller Assist then coordinated on-the-ground 24/7 security in Jordan for seven NGO staff who remained in Jordan while the others returned home.