A plane carrying dozens of people evacuated from Niger after last week's military coup has landed in Rome, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said, quoted by DPA.

According to the Italian agency ANSA, there were a total of 87 people on board the evacuation flight, including 46 Italian citizens, 21 Americans, four Bulgarians and two Austrians. According to Tajani, there are about a hundred Italians in Niger.

Earlier, France informed that the first evacuation flight with more than 260 people on board took off from the Niger capital, Niamey. From the initial information, it was not clear whether there were citizens of other countries besides France on the plane.

Another flight was scheduled for later yesterday, according to the French Army General Staff. A third plane was also on standby to take people on board for evacuation.

France has offered to take over the evacuation of citizens of other European countries as well. The German Foreign Ministry then advised German citizens to take advantage of this opportunity.

Paris said it was withdrawing French citizens after the closure of Niger's airspace over the risk of people being stranded in the African country. Other European countries also began airlifting their citizens after the coup in Niger.

A week ago, the military junta led by General Abdulrahman Chiani overthrew Niger's president, Mohammed Bazum. Chiani declared himself the new leader of Niger on Friday. A little later, the coup plotters suspended the country's constitution and dissolved all state institutions.

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