Vande Bharat Mission: 10 Flights Carrying Stranded Indians From Different Countries To Arrive Today

The first evacuation flight from Bahrain carrying 177 passengers also landed in Kochi at 11.30 p.m and in Chennai flight from Dubai carrying 179 passengers and three infants landed at 1.10 am.

More than 190,000 Indian nationals are expected to be brought back in the airlift operation. (Image: Twitter/ HardeepSPuri)

New Delhi: After successfully bringing 363 Stranded Indians from Abu Dhabi And Dubai in special Air India flights that landed in Kerala, the Vande Bharat Mission continues to ferry more Indians stranded abroad. Today seven flights are set to bring Indians from different countries. The Vande Bharat Mission is the biggest ever repatriation exercise which was started from May 7. The mission will be carried out by Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express which will ferry passengers stuck due to the lockdown from different parts of the world. 10 Air India and Air India Express flights are scheduled to depart for India today. Refer to the chart below: Report by IANS says that these two airlines will operate 64 flights in seven days to bring back 14,800 stranded Indians from 12 countries including UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Maldives, Singapore, and the US. Overall, more than 190,000 Indian nationals, who would have to pay a one-way ferry service charge, are expected to be brought back in the airlift operation. The airports have also prepared to receive incoming passengers. In Kerala, several measures were taken to ensure all safety protocols for the coronavirus is followed. At the Cochin airport after arrival, the passengers went through the thermal scanner and they must follow a quarantine period. Those displaying symptoms of Covid-19 are moved to a separate area and later taken to the nearest hospital. All incoming baggage will be disinfected, before handing them over to the people. And a UV disinfection chamber developed by the DRDO, which uses a solution that can kill the coronavirus has also been installed at Cochin airport.

Mission Vande Bharat begins.

First two flights bring home Indian citizens from the UAE. 177 passengers plus 4 infants reach Cochin from Abu Dhabi. 177 passengers plus 5 infants reach Kozhikode from Dubai. State govt will now arrange for their mandatory 14 day quarantine. pic.twitter.com/sVteZkd2Tj — Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) May 7, 2020

According to an IANS report yesterday, the first evacuation flight from Bahrain carrying 177 passengers also landed in Kochi at 11.30 p.m and in Chennai flight from Dubai carrying 179 passengers and three infants landed at 1.10 a.m. The repatriation process will also cover foreign nationals who are stuck in India during the lockdown. And several flights are outbound with passengers to different countries. A flight with 14 passengers left for Singapore on Friday. Those who want to avail of the service will have to apply to the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) or any other agency affiliated with the ministry. According to reports from May 15, the mission will be expanded to cover more European countries such as Germany, Spain, and Ukraine.