Vande Bharat Mission: 1200 stranded Indians return to Hyderabad

Hyderabad: The eighth Vandhe Bharat aircraft carrying 121 Indians stranded in the United States landed at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on May 16 morning.

With this, the total number of stranded Indians brought back to Hyderabad stands at 1,200. Indians have been repatriated from Kuwait, UAE, US, UK, Manila and Kuala Lumpur.

As of May 12, about 1,000 people have been sent to the US, UK, Germany, Kenya by 12 evacuation flights from the Hyderabad International airport.

All the Indians brought in were quarantined in accordance with the orders of the government at the designated quarantine centres, arranged at previously identified locations in the city. After the passengers left, the airport was once again fully sanitised, fumigated, disinfected, and prepared for the arrival of Indians from other countries.

After being closed for 50 days due to the Covid-19 lockdown, the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad received its first International flight on May 9. The flight, which is a part of the Vande Bharat Mission, brought 163 passengers from Kuwait.

In one of the largest evacuation exercises named “Vande Bharat Mission“, the government has announced to operate 64 flights to bring home nearly 14,800 Indian nationals stranded abroad due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

Out of 64 flights, Telangana will receive eight flights, three from the USA and one each from Kuwait, UK, UAE, Philippines and Malaysia.

The External Affairs Ministry in a statement had earlier announced that around 15 flights will arrive in Kerala, eleven each to Delhi-NCR and Tamil Nadu, eight for Telangana, seven for Maharashtra, five for Gujarat, three each for Jammu and Kashmir and Karnataka and one each for Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.