Four flights, part of the second phase of India's massive repatriation drive dubbed Vande Bharat Mission, arrived in Kerala on Wednesday bringing over 500 Indians stranded in various countries in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak.
A Dubai-Kochi flight landed in Cochin airport at 6:25pm while a Salalah-Kozhikode flight landed at 8:40pm in Kozhikode and a flight from Kuwait landed in the state capital at 9:25pm.
Another flight from Moscow flight reached Thiruvananthapuram airport with 106 Indians at 8:30pm. This flight will return at 10.30am on Thursday with 110 Russians. Russians stranded in Kolkata will also be evacuated in this flight.
There are three flights scheduled to Kerala on Thursday (21 May).
Muscat-Kozhikode flight will land in Kozhikode airport at 4:25pm, Doha-Kochi flight will land in Cochin airport at 8:45pm, and Dubai-Thiruvananthapuram flight will land in the state capital at 8:40pm.
On Tuesday, three flights arrived in Kerala bringing over 500 passengers.
An Air India flight from Kuwait landed in Kannur at 9:10pm while a Kuala Lumpur-Kochi flight landed at the Cochin airport at 10:15pm. A Doha flight (IX-0774) landed in Kannur with 177 passengers and 9 infants early Wednesday.
Phase two of the Vande Bharat mission began on Saturday and will go on until May 22. More than 25 flights in Phase 2 has been scheduled to Kerala. Over 32,000 people from 21 countries are expected to be brought back over the course of the seven days. So far, over 1,88,646 Indian nationals have registered to return.
As per the government's policy for evacuation, Indians having "compelling reasons" to return like pregnant women, elderly people, students and those facing the prospect of deportation are being brought back home.
The government launched the 'Vande Bharat Mission' on May 7 to evacuate Indians stranded in various countries due to coronavirus-related restrictions. Under the phase one of the mission, the government has evacuated a total of 12,000 Indians from the Gulf region as well as countries like the US, the UK, Philipines, Bangladesh, Malaysia and the Maldives.