Air India carrying 225 stranded Indians reaches Mumbai

Mumbai, May 11: As a part of the 'Vande Bharat' Mission, the Air India special flight carrying 225 Indian standards from San Francisco, the United States landed in Mumbai on Monday. The External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar thanked Air India and the Aviation Ministry for their support and co-operation for a successful evacuation process.

 

 

All passengers were seen wearing a mask and maintaining physical distance while coming out of the aircraft through the aero-bridge and till exiting the airport after the thermal screening, testing, and filling the self-declaration form about their travel history, health status and other details for contact tracing. Nearly an hour after landing, the passengers were ferried in special buses to hotels for the mandatory 14-day quarantine.

 

 

So far 5,163 people have arrived in India by 25 flights since the start of Vande Bharat, an Indian government compilation of the numbers of those repatriated by Air India and Air India Express till 10 May said.

 

Air India is operating in the San Francisco sector after 50 days as India had imposed restrictions due to COVID-19 spread. Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, India is conducting 'Vande Bharat' Mission - its biggest ever repatriation exercise since independence - to bring back stranded Indians from abroad, including from the US, UAE, and UK. Nearly 15,000 Indians are expected to return on special Air India flights from 12 countries in the coming days.

 

The government launched the Vande Bharat mission on 7 May and had said that 64 flights would be sent to a dozen countries to bring in about 15,000 stranded Indians by 13 May. The mission would also see Indian naval ships plying to countries like the Maldives and the United Arab Emirates to bring back stranded citizens.