The government is providing transportation for Montenegrin citizens who remained in Catania

The Government will provide Montenegrin citizens who, after the eruption of the Etna volcano and the cancellation of flights, remained in Catania with transportation to another airport from which they will be able to continue their journey to Montenegro.

After almost two days of trying to get help from the Embassy of Montenegro in Italy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Office of the President, they were informed about this this evening by the Office of Prime Minister Milojko Spajić.

"Vijesti" expects answers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to information received by "Vijesti" from Montenegrin citizens in Sicily, after the cancellation of flights, around thirty of them remained in Italy without the possibility of returning to Montenegro.

Their flight to Podgorica, scheduled for August 11, was canceled, and the airline provided them with accommodation for one night. After having to leave the hotel the next morning, some of the passengers, including families with children, were left without accommodation and a clear alternative for continuing their journey.

Marija Bulatović, from Podgorica, who was on vacation with her godmother and three children, told "Vijesti" that after numerous unsuccessful attempts to get help from the authorities, she was contacted this evening by the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff Tanja Musterović.

"I told her what was happening and I must say that she was extremely fair and patient. She told me that she was calling on behalf of the Prime Minister and that she would do everything she could to help us. She called me again after a very short time and really gave us hope that we would be going home tomorrow, as they had promised us. This is the first time since the evening of August 11 that we have had any hope that our situation, which is not in the least naive, could be resolved," said Bulatović.

According to her, after talking with representatives of Spajić's cabinet, they were contacted by an official from the Embassy of Montenegro in Italy, who also told them that transportation would be organized.

"We can only hope for that and wait to see what they will tell us tomorrow. I sincerely hope that we will find a solution soon and that the situation will finally move from the deadlock, that is, that it will be as they promised us from Prime Minister Spajić's office and that we will finally move on from here," she said.

"We were just looking for transportation to the airport where we could fly out"

Bulatović told "Vijesti" that she and the other passengers spent almost two days trying to get concrete assistance from Montenegrin institutions.

She said she contacted the Embassy on the recommendation of employees at the hotel where the airline had placed them after the flight was canceled.

"I spoke to a man from the Embassy, ​​who I understood to be the ambassador. When I explained the situation, he asked me: 'So what do you think, should I send a plane for you now?'" claims Bulatović.

As she stated, the passengers did not ask for the state to organize a special flight, but rather transportation to any city or airport from which they could continue their journey to Montenegro.

"I said - at least organize a van for us to Rome, Naples, Milan, anywhere from where we can fly to Podgorica or Tirana. We are ready to drive all night. The problem is that the buses and trains are full and we couldn't even buy tickets," she said.

The situation was particularly difficult, she claims, because they had three children with them, while her godmother was receiving biological therapy and cytostatics and was supposed to continue treatment upon returning to Montenegro.

"The godmother was supposed to receive therapy, the children are with us, and we didn't even know where we were going to sleep. Accommodation is extremely expensive, and almost nonexistent," said Bulatović.

She stated that they contacted the Embassy, ​​the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the President's Office, but that, as she claims, they did not receive any concrete assistance from them.

Bulatović said that she was particularly outraged by the reaction from the President's office, from where, she claims, instead of concrete assistance, she was sent an official statement stating that the authorities had taken care of the Montenegrin citizens.

"They are very sorry, but they say they took care of their citizens. How did you take care of us when we were on the streets? Just tell me how did you take care of us when we were on the streets?" she said.

As she stated, what struck her the most was that the institutions publicly announced that they were monitoring the situation and taking care of citizens, while she and the other passengers, including children, had neither organized transportation nor certain accommodation.

"What situation are they monitoring? How are they monitoring it? They say that citizens are important to them, that they have stood up for us, and we wonder how they take care of their citizens if we and our children are left without accommodation and have no way to leave Catania? All we needed was transportation from point A to point B, to the airport from which we can go home," said Bulatović.

The President's Office told "Vijesti" that they were "in constant contact" with colleagues from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"Since receiving the message yesterday, my colleague has been in constant contact with the State Secretary and the Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in order to assist the citizen who contacted us. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed us that they are in constant contact with them and that they have been given clear instructions on how to proceed," said a source from the President's Office.

She said that the situation for the group of Montenegrin tourists over the previous two days had been extremely exhausting and that, in addition to the uncertainty surrounding their return, they were also faced with high accommodation and food costs.

"I thought that this kind of thing would be resolved immediately and that the state would stand behind its citizens, like Serbia stood behind its own, or like the government took care of Montenegrin citizens who were in Dubai at the beginning of the year. When I told this gentleman from the Embassy, ​​he said to me - 'Okay, that's a different situation'. And the fact that we are on the street with children, isn't that a different situation?" she asked.

After tonight's call from Prime Minister Spajić's office, he says, for the first time they believe that the problem could be solved.

"Now we have a promise that transportation will be provided. We hope that we will finally leave tomorrow," Bulatović concluded.

The air traffic problems in Sicily began after Etna entered a new intense eruptive phase on August 6, accompanied by the ejection of lava and large amounts of volcanic ash. The Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) recorded an eruptive cloud about five kilometers high, while the ash spread over eastern and southern Sicily in the following days, depending on the wind.

Due to volcanic ash, which poses a serious risk to aircraft engines, traffic at Catania-Fontanarossa Airport has been restricted or completely suspended several times since August 7, with the bans being extended depending on the activity of the volcano and the direction of the ash cloud.

On the night of August 11-12, all operations were temporarily suspended at Comiso Airport, another airport in southeast Sicily.

By August 12, according to the Italian agency ANSA, around 700 flights had been canceled due to the eruption, while tens of thousands of passengers were affected by cancellations, delays and rerouting.