PremiumNEW DELHI: The first of six Air India repatriation flights to bring Indians stranded abroad, in the aftermath of lockdowns because of the covid-19 pandemic, landed in New Delhi on Friday.
“Flight no. AI381 from Singapore has landed in Delhi. Welcome home. Thank @airindiain @MoCA_GoI, Bureau of Immigration and Delhi Government for cooperation and support. Appreciate the exemplary effort of Team @IndiainSingapor led by HC @JawedAshraf5" Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar said in a post on Twitter.
The flight from Singapore is the third since India launched operation Vande Bharat to bring back 15,000 Indians from 13 countries. The airlift is seen as the most extensive operation of its kind since India evacuated 177,000 Indians from Iraq and Kuwait in the early 1990s.
Two Air India Express flights with more than 360 Indians from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) landed in Kerala late on Thursday, marking the return of the first lot of Indians stranded abroad.
The disease, which has led sealing of borders with restrictions of travel, has infected more than 3.6 million people worldwide.
Another five flights from Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bangladesh are expected to land in India through the day. The flight from Saudi Arabia to Calicut will land in the evening, according to a schedule from the Indian government.
The flight from Bangladesh will likely land in Srinagar early afternoon, while three others - one from Bahrain and two others from Dubai - are to arrive in Cochin and Chennai tonight and early Saturday.
Separately, the Indian Navy is expected to bring in a group of Indians from the Maldives over the weekend as part of its mission--Samudra Setu--under which several of its ships will go to the Maldives and Gulf countries.
