Spanish Lawyer Arancha González Laya announced the numbers on 19 March, warning Spaniards to cancel all unnecessary trips and urging those trapped abroad to remain ‘patient and calm’. Speaking at a televised press conference broadcast from the Prime Minister’s residence on the outskirts of Madrid, she promised that ‘nobody will be left unattended’.
Calls for help from stranded travellers have also flooded in via social media from countries as far afield as Peru and Indonesia after the cancellation of return flights.

González Laya said that in the first three days of the week beginning 15 March, more than 20,000 calls had been made to the country’s embassies and consulates. And while several social media reports have criticised the difficulty in getting through to the embassies, she said some 4,000 civil servants around the world were now working on repatriation issues.

The Ministry was not able to put a precise figure on the number of people who have been stranded abroad because many did not register with embassies before leaving home, but 65,000 were inscribed, while 2.7 million were listed as being residents in foreign countries.
More than two million messages have been sent out to offer recommendations on how best to return to Spain.

Asked about specific cases, Gonzalez Laya said that in the Philippines, staff were helping Spanish citizens reach the capital Manila from outlying islands to help facilitate their repatriation. "We are going to accompany each one of these groups,” she said, while repeating that people should avoid travelling now despite there being ‘some very tempting offers’ as airlines offered extremely low-cost seats as they wanted to protect their airport slots.

The government is in contact with various airlines to try and guarantee flight connections where necessary in line with EU civil protection norms. “We are sifting through [requests], giving priority to those in a vulnerable situation,” Gonzalez Laya added.

Meanwhile the Ministry has also been working with foreign embassies, especially those in the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia, to repatriate ‘in an ordered way’ their remaining nationals from Spain.