Respect: On Verge Of Collapse, Air India Rescued Over 1100 Indians From COVID-19-Hit Nations

Amid the novel pandemic coronavirus outbreak, our national airline Air India has emerged as a saviour for those who were stuck overseas. The airline has operated special flights to evacuate Indian nationals from places like Wuhan in China and Rome in Italy - the two countries that have suffered the most from the deadly virus.

The Centre issued a statement that no international flights will be allowed in the country for a whole week starting from March 22. however, Air India was still on duty, trying to rescue Indian citizens stuck in foreign lands.

ANI

On Sunday, Air India brought back 263 students from Rome in their Boeing 777 ER aircraft which landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. Aside from this, they sent a flight to Milan last week to evacuate 230 stranded Indian nationals, to make sure they get back home safely.

This is not the first time that Air India has emerged as the hero when it comes to evacuating the citizens of our country from overseas. Way back in 1990, Air India had managed to carry out an evacuation mission to rescue 1.7 lakh Indian nationals from Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War. This operation is known as the 'largest rescue mission by a civil airliner'.

AFP

During this time of absolute distress and chaos, Air India has not rescued just Indian but foreign nationals as well. Air India 747 flew to Wuhan on the 1st of February to rescue 324 stranded Indians. Wuhan was the epicenter of the virus outbreak at the time and this was one of the first rescue mission by any government around the world. The same aircraft then flew to rescue 323 more Indians and 7 Maldivian nationals from the same place.

In a message addressed to the crew, an Air India senior official said, "As you know these are testing times with even the aviation sector locked down but we as a national airline have special role to play in operating charter/rescue flights."

Twitter

Special measures were taken while choosing the crew to board these flights. Anyone with a compromised immunity system was not considered fit for flying and five doctors from Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and Safdarjung Hospital accompanied the crew in the rescue mission. The crew had minimal contact with the passengers when the flight landed in Wuhan and a box of food and 1 litre of water was placed on each seat.

TOI

The Boeing 747 being a double-decker airbus, the upper deck was solely for the crew and the first class was for the doctors and engineers accompanying them. All of these people wore masks, gloves and hazard suits when the flight landed at the epicenter of the virus. Passengers were checked by the doctors before they could board the flight and the cabin crew only manned the doors during take off and landing.

Rules and hygiene protocol were explained to the evacuees before the flight took off. The aircraft also carried medicines in case of an emergency but luckily there was none. The crew, engineers and doctors were placed under a week of self quarantine after their return.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

The crew of @airindiain Boeing 777 led by Capt Swati Raval & Capt Raja Chauhan responded to the call of duty & displayed exemplary determination by airlifting 263 Indians, mostly students, stranded in Rome. pic.twitter.com/JfqC7kwmGG

¡ª Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) March 22, 2020

Air India has always been at the center of a lot of controversies but these evacuation missions have proved them to be more than competent. Saving lives at a time like this not an easy job to do but it has gone out of its way to serve the nation. For that, it deserves a whole lot of respect.