Amid the rising tension and relentless attacks in West Asia, a total of 163 people were evacuated from Iran’s Bushehr power plant by Russia’s nuclear corporation, Rosatom.
According to Russian news agency
Tass, Rosatom chief Alexei Likhachev said that about 300 of the company’s staff remained at Bushehr, but more will be leaving in the third stage of evacuation.
The existing nuclear plant at Bushehr was built by Russia, and Rosatom is constructing additional units there, although it stopped construction work since the United States and Israel launched a war with Iran.
“Yesterday, we decided to prepare for the third stage of personnel evacuation. A group departed by vehicle for the Iranian-Armenian border this morning. Two more groups will be evacuated shortly,” Rosatom’s press service quoted Alexey Likhachev as saying, Tass reported.
Russia is temporarily reducing the number of its specialists on site to a minimum “until the situation returns to normal”, said Likhachev.
He further said that the situation at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant site continues to “develop negatively”, stating that a strike hit the area adjacent to the plant’s No. 1 power unit on Tuesday night.
Notably, this was the second such attack near the nuclear plant in recent days. A similar attack took place on March 17, causing no damage or injuries.
The development comes as the US and Israel continue to bombard Iran since the war broke out on Feb 28. According to reports, more than 1300 people, including Iran’s supreme leader, have been killed in the ongoing conflict.
Meanwhile, Tehran is throwing resilience by attacking with drones and missiles targeting Israel along with Jordan, Iraq and Gulf countries hosting US military assets.
