Vande Bharat Mission: First Two Air India Planes With 354 Stranded Indians Take Off From Dubai

The first batch of Indian nationals evacuated from the United Arab Emirates has started their journey to their homeland. The Air India Express flight IX452 took off from Abu Dhabi to Kochi with 177 passengers while a second flight is on its way to Kozhikode.

INDIATIMES

A total of 354 Indian nationals, including 11 pregnant women and a pair of twins, will return home on Thursday in the two flights from the UAE to Kerala as part of the repatriation exercise named 'Vande Bharat Mission.' Passengers started arriving at Abu Dhabi and Dubai airports as early as 9.30am on Thursday.

Some of the passengers were carrying the Indian flags. There are no suspected covid-19 cases among the first batch of passengers being repatriated on Thursday.

INDIATIMES

"All of them have cleared the tests," Consul General of India in Dubai Vipul was quoted as saying by the Gulf News.

He said the criteria of passengers' selection included medical cases, loss of jobs, pregnant women and senior citizens. Those with complications and financial issues were also picked.

Air India crew members on board the repatriation flights were fully protected with protective gear, including Personal Protective Equipment, to reduce the risk of contracting coronavirus.

INDIATIMES

On Monday, the Indian government announced plans to begin a phased repatriation of its citizens stranded abroad from May 7. The government also said that Air India will operate 64 flights from May 7 to May 13 to bring back around 15,000 Indian nationals stranded abroad amid the COVID-19-induced lockdown.

Short-listing the first passengers from among a database of more than 200,000 applicants, who include around 6,500 pregnant women, has been a mammoth task which posed several challenges for the missions, Neeraj Agrawal, Consul, Press, Information and Culture at the Indian Consulate in Dubai told the Gulf News.

INDIATIMES

India is conducting its biggest ever repatriation exercise named Vande Bharat Mission¡ªsans social distancing and COVID-19 tests to bring back stranded Indians from abroad. Air India Express will operate 24 special flights out of the total 64 such flights planned by the Indian government to bring back Indians stranded abroad. The cost for the travel will be paid by the passenger.

The evacuees will have to remain in quarantine for 14 days after reaching India to avoid the spread of COVID-19. India imposed a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the country, grounding all international flights since mid-March. Sill there is no clarity on the resumption of regular flight services.