New Delhi: Under the ‘Vande Bharat’ mission to bring back the stranded Indians from abroad, 130 Indians from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, landed in Delhi on Sunday evening on a special Air India flight. The flight landed at the national capital’s Indira Gandhi International Airport as per schedule around 8 p.m.
The flight from London to Delhi reached the IGI Airport in the early Monday hours, at around 12.30 am. It brought back 326 Indians to their country.
Another Air India flight reached Bengaluru carrying 323 Indians from London. It had a delay of 1.5 hours and arrived at 4.30 am Monday. The Air Boeing 777 had departed from London’s Heathrow airport and reached Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport safely.
All the passengers were to be screened on arrival and shifted to quarantine for 14 days at hotels, hostels, and other quarantine facilities made by the government. About 800 people would be brought back to Karnataka by three Air India flights in the next few days.
This is the first flight from London that has arrived at the KIA after under the Vande Bharat Mission started on May 7 to aid in the evacuation of the Indians citizens in foreign countries around the world.
Meghna, one of the passengers, was elated on reaching her home town shared her traveling experience. “In the flight no hot meals or service, packaged food and water provided (enough for 3-4 meals!). Washroom access is unrestricted, but queueing for a washroom in aisles not allowed.”
The major issue faced by her was the lack of enough protective gear on the flight for the passengers. According to her, one-fourth of the flight didn’t get the equipment. “Rows 41-52 had to rely on their own supply of masks and gloves.” she stated., as reported by Deccan Chronicle.
On May 10, the High Commission of India to London posted on Twitter,” Air India’s evacuation flight for Bengaluru takes off with 323 stranded Indians on board.” This was to soothe the Indians trapped abroad.
The commission has asked KSRVS Chalam, one of the stranded Indians in London to mail his details after he posted that his wife is Diabetic and needs medical attention as his family could not get the chance to move in the first scheduled flight to Bangalore. “We are senior citizens and currently stranded in London and waiting to go back. Kindly help. Thank you.”
Meanwhile, the high commission also cautioned the passengers and asked them not to share their email ids with other people on social media.
“Do not be part of Whatsapp or other groups floated by people unknown to you. This could lead to potential frauds. Stay with us. More flights are coming in soon,” the mission has alerted.
During the fourth day of the Vande Bharat Mission, both Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express brought back passengers from Bangladesh, the Philippines, US, Singapore and Gulf states to several cities in the country. This is part of the massive evacuation mission amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Indian government has been making efforts to bring back Indians stranded abroad and under the massive ‘Vande Bharat Mission’, national carrier Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express have been undertaking evacuation flights starting May 7. The Air India Group would be functioning 64 flights and bring back over 14,000 stranded Indians from 12 countries under the mission.
