On Thursday 9 March 1967, 108 stateless Assyrians/Syriacs left Beirut airport in Lebanon en-route to Sweden where they landed at Bulltofta airport outside of Malmö. After being bathed upon arrival, the Assyrians/Syriacs were transported by bus to a refugee housing complex in Alvesta in the province of Småland. Over a month later on Thursday, 13 April, a second group of 98 Assyrian/Syriac refugees arrived from Beirut. The reason behind the initial immigration of Assyrians/Syriacs to Sweden was the introduction of a quota of 200 Christians from Lebanon that were to be accepted by the Swedish Public Employment Service after coordination with the World Council of Churches and the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees. A group of Swedish public officials visited Beirut where a selection of mostly young families from Turkey that were members of the Syriac Orthodox Church, as well as Protestants and members of the Assyrian Church of the East were accepted to immigrate to Sweden.