The next phase of evacuation of Indian nationals from Maldives is set to begin from 15th of this month. INS JALASHWA will make another voyage to Kochi from Male port evacuating around 700 stranded Indians in Maldives. The ship will carry only those Indian nationals who are residents of Kerala and Lakshadweep.
Air India will be evacuating Indian nationals belonging to other states from Maldives. Evacuation flights will ferry the Indians to the cities of New Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and Chennai. Talking exclusively to AIR News, India's High Commissioner to Maldives, Sunjay Sudhir spoke of the arrangements being provided onboard the ship.
Meanwhile,on Day Seven of the Vande Bharat Mission, five flights from Gulf will bring back nearly 900 distressed Indians home. Two flights are scheduled to fly from Dubai - One to Delhi and the other to Amritsar. The Delhi flight scheduled today, is likely to take 241 passengers and four infants while the Amritsar flight has a list of 178 distressed Indians.
From Kuwait, two flights are scheduled for Ahmedabad and Kozhikode with a total of 330 people. Flight from Jeddah to Calicut has 149 people. Another flight to Delhi has been rescheduled now for tomorrow due to operational reasons. Priority is being given to workers in distress , elderly people, urgent medical cases, pregnant women and others stranded in difficult situation. Only those who are found asymptomatic will be allowed to board the flight.
In Jammu and Kashmir, 169 Kashmiri medical students on board Air India flight A1-1242 from Dhaka landed in Srinagar International Airport today.
After immigration, custom, thermal screening and self-declaration formalities, all the students left for their respective districts in the valley by State Road Transport Corporation buses for the mandatory 14 day quarantine period.
The fourth evacuation flight from Bangladesh left Dhaka for Srinagar at 11 a.m. local time on Tuesday. It is scheduled to reach Srinagar at 1.45 in the afternoon. This is the second flight from Dhaka to Srinagar bringing students from Bangladesh.
Tomorrow there is another flight scheduled for Srinagar. The Special Air India flight under the Vande Bharat Mission on Tuesday carried 169 medical students from India stranded in Bangladesh in the wake of Corona pandemic and the subsequent lockdown.
Earlier, on Monday the third evacuation flight had left for Mumbai from Dhaka. The flight carried 104 Indian nationals stranded in Bangladesh due to Corona virus. Two other flights on 8th and 9th May have evacuated Indian citizens from Bangladesh to India. The first flight on May 8 carried 168 medical students from Bangladesh to Srinagar. The second flight carried 129 Indian citizens to Delhi on May 9.
The passengers of the flight to Srinagar thanked the High Commission of India for its help in arranging the special evacuation flight. They also thanked the government of India and the High Commission of India in Bangladesh for extending them all help during the process of evacuation from Bangladesh.
The second Naval Ship under 'Operation Samudra Setu', INS Magar arrives at Cochin Port today with evacuees from Maldives. INS Magar with 202 evacuees from Maldives arrived at Cochin Port today evening at 5: 45 PM.The passengers included 91 repatriates of Kerala, 83 of Tamil Nadu and 28 belonging to 15 other states/UTs. The Port health officials conducted detailed medical check-up of all passengers.
After the formalities people with symptoms were shifted to hospital and others were transferred to quarantine centres. Persons belonging to Tamil Nadu without any symptoms were moved in special buses arranged by the Tamil Nadu Govt.
Meanwhile the flight from Dubai carrying nearly 180 passengers arrived in Kannur International airport today at 7:15pm. Three more flights each from Dhamam, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore is scheduled to arrive with expatriates to Kochi tonight.