Ambulances and buses evacuating people drive out of a rebel-held part of Aleppo, Syria December 15, 2016. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki
GENEVA: Twenty-one buses and 19 ambulances carrying civilians and wounded have left eastern Aleppo and are traveling through government-controlled areas on their way to opposition-held areas, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.
Elizabeth Hoff, WHO's representative in Syria, told Reuters from the evacuation area in the Ramousah district: "We saw women and small children on the buses and some men. They were not full. Everything went very smoothly. It was very calm."
"Now they are passing through the government-controlled area. It is 6.8 kilometres on the way to the next checkpoint to go to opposition-controlled areas," she said. "Preparations are being made to send an additional eight buses to go to pick up more people."
Hoff said she had not seen any checking of identity papers.
