Rescue flights from New Caledonia continued to evacuate people on Sunday, with hundreds still remaining.
The first flights to evacuate travellers stranded in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia began on Saturday, the archipelago’s High Commission said, after over a week as the international airport in the capital Nouméa remained closed.
More than 500 people from various countries have already been evacuated, but about 100 New Zealanders are still stranded in the territory after a fourth special flight carrying 57 citizens left the Pacific island for Auckland on Saturday.
Seven people have died since riots broke out a fortnight ago. Some 115 police and gendarmes have been injured and 370 people have been arrested.
The unrest began after a constitutional change adopted by Paris to give French New Caledonians the right to vote in provincial elections. France consequently declared a state of emergency, sending hundreds of police and military reinforcements to restore order in the Pacific archipelago, some 17,000 kilometres from mainland France.
