Three flights, part of the second phase of India's massive repatriation drive dubbed Vande Bharat Mission, arrived in Kerala on Thursday bringing over 500 Indians stranded in various countries in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak.
A Muscat-Kozhikode flight landed in Kozhikode airport at 4:25pm with 180 passengers and 6 infants and a Doha-Kochi flight landed at the Cochin airport at 8:45pm with 177 passengers and 8 infants.
A Dubai-Thiruvananthapuram flight landed in the state capital at 8:40pm with 180 passengers including 28 pregnant women, 45 medical cases, 35 workers and 38 stranded tourists/students among others.
On Friday, three flights are set to arrive in Kerala. A Bahrain-Thiruvananthapuram flight will depart at 1:35pm and will land in the state capital at 8:55pm, another Muscat-Kannur flight will deart at 2:45pm and arrive in Kannur at 8pm, and a Dubai-Kochi flight will depart at 4pm and arrive at the Cochin airport by 9:40pm.
On Wednesday, four flights brought over 600 Indians from the Gulf and Russia to Kerala. A Dubai-Kochi flight landed in Cochin airport at 6:25pm while a Salalah-Kozhikode flight landed at 8:40pm in Kozhikode and a flight from Kuwait landed in the state capital at 9:25pm.
Another flight from Moscow flight reached Thiruvananthapuram airport with 106 Indians at 8:30pm. This flight returned at 10.30am on Thursday with 110 Russians. Russians stranded in Kolkata too were evacuated in this flight.
Second phase of Vande Bharat Mission to continue till June 13
The government on Thursday said its mega mission to evacuate stranded Indians from abroad will continue till June 13 and the extended phase will cover 47 countries.
The second phase of the 'Vande Bharat Mission' was to end on May 22.
However, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said the ongoing phase will last till June 13 and that India is looking at making Frankfurt a hub for the mission.
As of Thursday afternoon, a total of 23,475 Indian nationals were brought back home under the mission which began on May 7.
"We are looking to bring back our nationals from 47 countries on 162 flights. In this phase, we are including places like Istanbul, Ho Chi Minh city, Lagos etc and increasing flights to the USA and Europe," Srivastava said at an online media briefing.
"We are also receiving our nationals stranded abroad onboard flights from other countries which are coming in to evacuate nationals of those countries. We are bringing back our nationals from far flung areas like Argentina, South Africa, Peru, Mongolia," he added.
The total Indians evacuated included 4,883 workers, 4,196 students, 3,087 professionals among others.
A total of 2,59,001 people registered to return from 98 countries.
"Operations under this very large and complex exercise are going on smoothly. The ministry and its missions are working very closely in this whole of government exercise with the Ministries of civil aviation, home affairs, health and family welfare, bureau of immigration as well as with concerned state governments," he said.
Private airlines may be involved in third phase of the evacuation mission after June 13, officials said.
As per the government's policy for evacuation, Indians having "compelling reasons" to return like pregnant women, elderly people, students and those facing the prospect of deportation are being brought back home.
The government launched the 'Vande Bharat Mission' on May 7 to evacuate Indians stranded in various countries due to coronavirus-related restrictions. Under the phase one of the mission, the government has evacuated a total of 12,000 Indians from the Gulf region as well as countries like the US, the UK, Philipines, Bangladesh, Malaysia and the Maldives.
