Working to evacuate Indians stranded in Iran due to coronavirus outbreak, says EAM S Jaishankar

New Delhi, March 02: After the Indian fishermen being stranded in Iran due to the coronavirus, the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday has assured that the government is putting all the efforts to evacuate the fishermen along with the other Indians amid the coronavirus epidemic. The government has also collaborated with the Iranian officials to set up a screening process for the return of Indians.

 

 

The External Minister confirmed the news after the Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor urged him to take necessary actions for evacuating the Kerala fishermen who are stranded in Iran. Keeping the track of stranded people in Iran personally, the Minister has also asked the Indian Embassy of Iran in Tehran to keep all those concerned updated of the progress.

V. Muraleedharan, the MoS for External Affairs also stated that the Embassy in Iran is making an assessment of the situation and is in touch with local authorities after the reports were received. Iran has till now reported 54 deaths due to coronavirus which is the most after China. However, there are 987 cases that have been infected from the virus. The number of people killed worldwide by the coronavirus has exceeded 3,000, as China reported 42 more deaths. The virus has now spread to more than 45 countries across the world including in India.

On the other hand, 85 Indian students who are stranded for a week in the university town of Pavia have sent an SOS to get evacuated as soon as possible. The students were supposed to take flights to India but it got canceled due to the coronavirus cases being surfaced in Italy.