Vande Bharat Mission: A pregnant woman with her child at the Kochi airport after being repatriated from Abu Dhabi in a special flight Thursday (Source: PR Dept, Gov of Kerala)
Two Air India repatriation flight carrying a total of 363 Indian nationals from the UAE landed in Kochi and Kozhikode Thursday. The flights are part of India’s biggest-ever repatriation exercise to bring back its citizens stranded abroad amidst the international travel lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic.
The first flight from Abu Dhabi landed in Kochi a little after 10 pm as part of the government’s Vande Bharat mission to bring back its citizens stranded abroad. The second flight from Dubai touched down in Kozhikode just after 10.30 pm. Captain Anshul Sheoran of IX 419 AbuDhabi Kochi flight welcomed passengers with the message “welcome aboard. We are going home”. Meanwhile, Indian Navy’s INS Jalashwa, also reached the Maldives to bring back stranded Indian citizens.
Also read | How well is Kerala prepared to receive its expatriates?
Nearly 15,000 Indians stranded overseas are expected to return on special Air India flights from 12 countries over a week, starting Thursday. The government will operate 64 flights until May 13 and use three Navy ships, as part of Phase I of an evacuation plan, named “Vande Bharat Mission”. Of the 64 flights, 15 would be to Kerala, 11 each to Delhi and Tamil Nadu, seven each to Maharashtra and Telangana, and the rest to Gujarat, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh. (Follow coronavirus LIVE updates )
The evacuees will be medically screened upon arrival and sent to quarantine facilities, for at least seven to 14 days, depending on the states.
The government will for the first time charge Indian nationals who are being evacuated by Indian Navy ships. Earlier evacuation operations by the Navy were not charged to the passengers. The Indian High Commission in Male told the stranded Indians on Thursday that they will have to pay $40 — about Rs 3,028 — as “evacuation services charge” for repatriation by INS Jalashwa on Friday. In February-March 2011, during the Arab spring, when an operation to evacuate 16,400 Indians was carried out from Libya, Indian Navy ships INS Jalashwa, INS Mysore and INS Aditya were pressed into service, but no payment was charged from the evacuees. Subhajit Roy reports
The BJP on Thursday hailed as "historic" the Vande Bharat Mission, India's biggest ever exercise to bring back its citizens stranded abroad, with party president J P Nadda saying that it underlines Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "compassion and exceptional leadership".
"As India commences the historic #VandeBharatMission to bring back Indians from across the globe, I congratulate PM Narendra Modi for his compassion and exceptional leadership at this very crucial juncture," Nadda tweeted. He added, "I also welcome our sisters and brothers back to India, and wish them good health. I also appeal to them to extend full cooperation, follow the rules of personal distancing, hygiene and support local authorities in the fight against coronavirus." (PTI)
The BMC has arranged 3343 rooms in 88 hotels to quarantine people returning from various countries, in the coming few days. 14800 people are to be brought back to India on 64 special flights starting 7th May. Out of these, 7 flights are to come to Mumbai with 1900 passengers
Air India’s first flight to Singapore departed from Delhi at around 11:20 PM today, with one passenger, to bring back stranded Indians from abroad under the Vande Bharat Mission.
Greeting 177 passengers onboard the Air India IX 419 AbuDhabi Kochi flight, Captain Anshul Sheoran of IX 419 AbuDhabi Kochi flight welcomed passengers with the message “welcome aboard. We are going home”.
The BJP on Thursday hailed as "historic" the Vande Bharat Mission, India's biggest ever exercise to bring back its citizens stranded abroad, with party president J P Nadda saying that it underlines Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "compassion and exceptional leadership".
"As India commences the historic #VandeBharatMission to bring back Indians from across the globe, I congratulate PM Narendra Modi for his compassion and exceptional leadership at this very crucial juncture," Nadda tweeted.
He added, "I also welcome our sisters and brothers back to India, and wish them good health. I also appeal to them to extend full cooperation, follow the rules of personal distancing, hygiene and support local authorities in the fight against coronavirus."
In pics: Passengers embarking the Dubai-Kozhikode flight IX 344 being screened at CCJ Airport in Kozhikode. A total of 363 Indian nationals have arrived from the UAE in Kerala today.
(Source: PRD, Gov of Kerala)
The CCJ Airport at Kozhikode (Source: PRD, Gov of Kerala)
Passengers being screened for temperature at Kozhikode airport (Source: Air India)
The Air India crew donned PPE as Indian nationals alight from the flight (Air India)
In Calicut airport, first flight lands with 182 passengers including five children. The passengers were brought out in batches, screened and sent for Covid-19 awareness classes. The Dubai-Kozhikode flight IX 344 with 177 passengers and five infants took off at 5.46 pm as part of the repatriation exercise named 'Vande Bharat Mission.'
Tickets for Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) to Bahrain flight is open for sale. Only Bahrain Nationals and permanent residents of Bahrain can travel by this flight: Air India Express Spokesperson
Passengers arrive at the Cochin International Airport from Abu Dhabi. This was the first flight bringing Indians home as part of the government's Vande Bharat mission.
The second Air India Express flight that took off from Dubai with 177 Indian nationals on board has also landed in Kozhikode.
First repatriation of the Air India Express flight, the IX 452, from Abu Dhabi has landed in Kochi, Kerala as part of India's biggest ever repatriation exercise to bring back its citizens stranded abroad amidst the international travel lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic. Carrying 177 passengers, the flight's doors will be opened soon
Air India Express flight that took off from Abu Dhabi with 177 Indian nationals on board has landed in Kochi.
The Indian Embassy in Maldives has shared the bus pick-up points and locations for stranded Indians who will be brought to the country onboard the INS Jalashwa Friday.
INS Jalashwa of the Indian Navy arrived off the port of Male Thursday to undertake the evacuation of Indian citizens stranded at the Maldives during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The ship is part of Operation Samudra Setu launched by the Indian Navy to bring Indian citizens home from foreign shores.
Second Air India Express Flight from UAE also left for Kerala. The flight took off from Dubai for Kozhikode with 177 passengers on board. One passenger was added to attend final rites of her mother after one passenger dropped out due to immigration issue, the Consulate General of India, Dubai said in a tweet.
The first of the two flights from the UAE carrying 177 Indian nationals left for Kerala on Thursday, as India began its biggest ever repatriation exercise to bring back its citizens stranded abroad amidst the international travel lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic.
Boarding getting started for Dubai Kozhikode flight.
Pavan Kapoor, India's Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was seen interacting with Indians who are being brought back under the Vande Bharat Mission at the Abu Dhabi airport.
The first repatriation flight that took off from Kochi reaches Abu Dhabi. It landed almost 25 minutes earlier.
The second Air India Express flight has also left Kerala for the United Arab Emirates to bring back stranded Indian nationals in the Gulf region due to the COVID-19 lockdown, news agency PTI reported.
Evacuees will undergo mandatory quarantine at centres run by Army, Navy and Air Force after which further necessary action will be taken for their onward journey, Ministry of Defence said.
The Indian Embassy in UAE in a tweet said that preparations for the Abu Dhabi-Kochi special flight IX452 have begun. Passengers are currently being screened at the airport.
Passengers inside flights will be seated in a zig-zag fashion, wearing masks. 45 minutes before arrival, announcements will be made inside the flight about quarantine procedures. Travellers will have to fill in self-report forms and submit at the help desk. 15 to 20 people will be deboarded at a time, with one-metre distance between them. At the aerobridge, their temperatures will be checked. Those running a fever will be sent to the isolation bay.
Air India crew on Abu Dhabi to Chocjin Flight.
A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking direction to the Centre to utilise the Indian community welfare fund (ICWF), aimed at assisting overseas Indian nationals in times of distress and emergency, for repatriation of economically weaker citizens who are stranded abroad due to COVID-19 pandemic The government has decided to facilitate the return of Indians stranded abroad in a phased manner using aircraft and naval ships but is going to charge fare for such repatriation, it said.
"Fixing fare for repatriation of at the time of distress would further put burden on the migrant labourers who are already out of job and proper shelter, putting them in a vulnerable condition living abroad," the plea, filed through advocate Jose Abraham, said. The plea said that the government authorities should use the ICWF, set up in 2009, which is aimed at assisting overseas Indian nationals in times of distress and emergency in the 'most deserving cases' on a 'means tested basis' for repatriating poor migrant labourers.
Evacuation from Singapore will take place on Friday. Nearly 240 Indians from the city-state who are stranded amidst the international travel lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic will evacuated, the Indian High Commissioner in Singapore said on Thursday. The flight will leave Singapore at 8.35 am for Delhi on Friday with one more scheduled for Delhi and one each for Bangalore and Mumbai, he said. Flights for other destinations like Chennai, Trichy, Amritsar, Ahmedabad and Kolkata have also been requested, Ashraf said.
Naval ships Jalashwa and Magar will evacuate Indians in Maldives from May 8
The Indian Navy has launched Operation “Samudra Setu” (sea bridge) to repatriate Indian citizens from overseas. Naval ships Jalashwa and Magar are enroute to the port of Male to evacuate people from May 8. The government said only those who test Covid-19 negative would be allowed to travel. INS Jalashwa has entered Male port for the first phase under Operation Samudra Setu to repatriate Indians from Maldives, said the High Commission of India in Maldives.
With Indians stranded in the Middle East to be evacuated from Thursday, elaborate safety measures have been put in place at Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), where the first flight from Abu Dhabi is expected that night. Pilots and cabin crew of Air India’s first batch of flights have been given training in infection control practices, apart from undergoing RT-PCR test. Twelve Air India personnel, including four pilots, were trained by Kochi government medical college. The first flight from Abu Dhabi will have 179 passengers, and the airport is fully prepared to receive them, a CIAL spokesperson said. The aircraft, which has been disinfected, will have a special parking bay and aerobridge.
Caption: Kerala Air India cabin crew. (source: Handout
According to revised plan now, two flights will arrive in Kerala today-- Abu Dhabi to Cochin and Dubai to Kozhikode. Each flight will carry roughly 200 passengers. The Dubai flight is expected to arrive at 10:30 in the night and the Abu Dhabi flight will arrive at 9:40 PM.
More than 4400 Punjabis, including students, stuck in different countries have approached Punjab government with requests to return home. As per data compiled by the Punjab State Covid Control Room, with 621 such requests, Hoshiarpur tops the districts in the state, followed by Ludhiana (538) and Amritsar (532).
However, Punjab NRI Affairs Secretary Rahul Bhandari said the exact details about Punjabis returning home in the first phase were awaited from Centre. He said that Punjabis may be returning on other flights also that will land at other destinations in the country. Bhandari said that Centre had conveyed that around 20,000 Punjabis were likely to return from abroad.
‘Vande Bharat Mission’ will see the operation of 64 flights from May 7 to May 13 to bring back around 15,000 Indian nationals stranded abroad amid the Covid-19 lockdown. Once completed, it may turn out to be the largest evacuation operation ever since the 1990 airlift of 1.7 lakh people from Kuwait. India will operate 10 flights to the UAE, seven flights each to the US and the UK, five flights to Saudi Arabia, five flights to Singapore and two flights to Qatar to repatriate Indian nationals between May 7 and May 13. During this period, India will also operate seven flights each to Malaysia and Bangladesh, five flights each to Kuwait and Philippines, two flights each to Oman and Bahrain.’
In one of the largest evacuation exercises since the 1990 Kuwait airlift, the government will operate 64 flights from May 7 to 13 to bring home thousands of Indian nationals stranded abroad under it “Vande Bharat Mission."
Moreover, the Indian Navy has launched Operation “Samudra Setu” (sea bridge) to repatriate Indian citizens from overseas. Naval ships Jalashwa and Magar are enroute to the port of Male to evacuate people from May 8. The government said only those who test Covid-19 negative would be allowed to travel. Click here to read more
The Indian Embassy in the US, on Thursday, announced that seven non-scheduled special flights will operate from Saturday to fly back Indian nationals stranded in the US amidst the international travel lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic. A computerised draw of lots would identify the names of the Indian nationals for the special seven flights back home, due to the limited number of seats available
"Since the number of seats on the flights would be limited, passengers with the compelling cases such as those facing medical emergencies or requiring return due to bereavement in the family, students, pregnant women, elderly or those facing expiry of visas will be given priority, and identified through an electronic random selection method," the embassy said.
The first of the series of seven flights will fly from San Francisco to Mumbai and Hyderabad on May 9 and the second flight from the city will fly to New Delhi and Bengaluru on May 13, the Indian embassy here said in a media release. Tickets for these flights range from USD 1362 (over Rs 1 lakh) for economy class to USD 3722 (over Rs 2 lakh) for business and USD 5612 (over Rs 4 lakh) for the First-Class passengers.
Meanwhile, Air India is also evacuating people from India who wish to travel to London, Singapore and select destinations in US operating from May 8 to May 14, 2020. They have also mentioned eligibility criteria for the same on their website.
With over 3,500 fresh cases since Wednesday evening, the coronavirus tally in India breached the 50,000 mark to stand at 52,952 on Thursday. The jump in cases came even as the Centre and state governments continued to chalk out lockdown exit strategies for post May 17. As many as 1,783 deaths have been recorded, the Ministry of Health announced, adding that one person has migrated. Follow more updates here
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that India is standing strong, selflessly, at a time Coronavirus has disrupted lives. On the occassion of Buddha Purnima, he tweeted, "India is standing strong selflessly in these difficult times with those facing trouble in country or abroad."
Even as the government announced on Monday that the process of evacuating stranded Indians from overseas will begin on May 7, sources in the Ministry of Tourism said the process of repatriation of foreigners who were stranded in India is almost complete now. As per their estimates, around 30,000 international visitors stranded in various parts of the country, have returned to their home countries by now through several rescue flights operating from key airports. However, sources said, there are many others who are still stranded in various parts of the country. According to the Ministry of Tourism, “Around a thousand international visitors are confined to their hotel rooms since they could not afford the rescue flights, which were quite expensive.” Read more
This is how India is set to receive evacuees:
*Passengers on arrival will be first medically screened
*They will be sent to quarantine facilities for 14 days
* COVID test would be done after 14 days and further action would be taken according to health protocols
* On reaching, everyone would have to register on the Arogya Setu app
* Tickets for these flights, which will be operated by Air India, will have to be purchased by the passengers.
Today, on day-1, four flights will arrive in Kerala’s Cochin and Kozhikode airport from Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Dubai and Doha with approximately 200 passengers in each flight. Another flight will arrive in Delhi from Malaysia, two flights to Mumbai from UK and Singapore and one to Ahmedabad.
With Indians stranded in the Middle East to be evacuated from Thursday, elaborate safety measures have been put in place at Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), where the first flight from Abu Dhabi is expected at night. The first flight from Abu Dhabi will have 179 passengers, and the airport is fully prepared to receive them, a CIAL spokesperson said. The aircraft, which has been disinfected, will have a special parking bay and aerobridge. Passengers will be examined with thermal scanners and temperature guns before they enter the terminal. Symptomatic passengers will have a dedicated way to an ambulance for transport to hospital, while asymptomatic passengers will be taken to a health desk for basic examination. Read more
The Delhi International Airport will see over 3,600 Indian nationals stranded in other countries being flown in over the coming week. Starting Thursday, the evacuation process will continue for a week with over 14 flights coming in from Malaysia, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, USA, Philippines and Singapore. The first flight is from Malaysia with over 250 passengers. Airport authorities have stated that the flights will land at Terminal 3. As per the flight plan prepared by the External Affairs Ministry, the Delhi Airport won’t see more than three evacuation flights a day. Read more
Hello, welcome to our LIVE blog. Today, India will begin airlifting thousands of Indian nationals stranded overseas. According to sources, this coulb be country's largest evacuation operation. Follow this space for more updates.