Yesterday, Thursday 21 August 2003, five flights arrived in Jordan carrying around 100 staff members and some of them were wounded. 11 staff members were also medically evacuated to Kuwait.
Today, Friday 22 August 2003, we are expecting another 2 flights. One passenger flights with 16 UN staff. The 2nd flight is the Jordanian Royal Air Force C130 which will bring about 20 medical evacuees to Amman.
At present, we know that 23 people are dead, but only ten have yet been identified. The death toll may rise, since some of the injured are in a critical condition, while others are still missing and may lie buried beneath the rubble. The recovery effort, and the process of identifying the bodies continues. Security officials are reassessing conditions in Iraq and at duty stations throughout the world.
Several stress counsellors are already in Baghdad, and more are on their way, while others are available in Geneva, New York, here in Amman and elsewhere. The full resources of the UN system are being mobilised to respond to this emergency.
A core team of UN staff will remain in Baghdad to carry on our work with the people of Iraq.