Over 800 Indian citizens stranded abroad were repatriated on four flights from Doha, San Francisco, Melbourne and Sydney on Monday under the Vande Bharat Mission, said Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
"Vande Bharat - Mission of Hope and Happiness. 833 Indian citizens return on four flights from Doha, San Francisco, Melbourne and Sydney to Delhi, Gaya, Kochi and Ahmedabad on May 25, 2020," Puri tweeted on Monday.
Vande Bharat - Mission of Hope & Happiness.
833 Indian citizens return on four flights from Doha, San Francisco, Melbourne & Sydney to Delhi, Gaya, Kochi & Ahmedabad on 25th May 2020.@MoCA_GoI @MEAIndia pic.twitter.com/Yv6lQKxX5a
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) May 25, 2020
The first phase of the Vande Bharat Mission was launched by the central government on May 7 to evacuate Indians stranded abroad on account of the coronavirus induced lockdown imposed by governments across the world. The second phase of ferrying the special flights to bring back Indians started on May 16.
Puri also informed that until May 6, 30,000 stranded Indians were brought back to India who were stranded abroad due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
We brought back more than 30,000 stranded Indians on Vande Bharat flights since 6 May 2020.
We flew 917 tons of medical & essential cargo on Lifeline UDAN flights since 26 March 2020.
Today, we restart domestic flights.
India's civil aviation is always on the forefront.
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) May 25, 2020
Last week, Puri had said that upwards of 20 thousand Indian citizens have been brought back to the country under the mission so far and the number will rise further in the coming days.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) recently announced that the second phase of the mission has been extended to June 13.
"The second phase of this mission began from May 16 onward and this phase will last till June 13. We are looking to bring back our nationals from 47 countries on 162 flights in this phase," MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.
"In this phase, we are including places like Istanbul, Ho Chi Minh City, Lagos, etc and also increasing flights to the US and to Europe. We also looking at developing Frankfurt as a hub," he added.
