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Key points
- Captain Anshul Sheoran took the first evacuation flight of Air India Express as part of the ‘Vande Bharat Mission’
- As part of the ‘Vande Bharat Mission’, the government aims to repatriate 15,000 Indians stranded abroad
- First, repatriation flight IX252 took off from Abu Dhabi and landed at Cochin International Airport at 2200 IST on Thursday
New Delhi: Known as one of the largest evacuation exercises in the world, the central government aims to repatriate 14,800 Indians stranded in 12 countries due to travel restrictions due to blockages induced by coronavirus worldwide.
On Thursday, which was the first day of the 9-day exercise, two Air India Express flights carrying 354 passengers from Abu Dhabi and Dubai landed in Kochi and Kozhikode, respectively.
The move was a great relief to several thousand Indians trapped abroad due to the coronavirus-induced blockade and global travel bans.
Message from the Air India Express pilot on the first evacuation flight
The encouraging message from the pilot of Air India Express’s first repatriation flight from Abu Dhabi to Kochi is now going viral on the Internet. Captain Anshul Sheoran took the historic flight under the government’s “Vande Bharat Mission” on May 7.
“It is a great honor for my team and myself to fly with you on this first IX452 evacuation flight, as part of the massive” Vande Bharat Mission “airlift operation launched by the Government of India to bring our citizens home in these special circumstances. Today, Indian airspace has been opened for passenger flights after about seven weeks of being closed due to the ongoing global pandemic. “
“We hope to arrive at Cochin International Airport at 2200 hours (IST). We will fly 35,000 feet above the Arabian Sea. Below, on the sea surface, our Indian Navy ships are participating in a similar national effort. Evacuating our citizens from countries in the region as part of Operation Samudra Setu. “
“This is a national air and sea evacuation effort, with which we are proud to be associated. As you can see, our crew is dressed in hazardous materials suits as part of security protocols, but we will wear our warm smiles. ”
“We are proud to be a part of this historic flight that falls on the auspicious day of” Buddha Purnima, “” Captain Sheoran announced on the flight, urging passengers to follow the security protocol seriously.
“Let’s keep our morale high, let’s go home,” he concluded.
Vande Bharat Mission
On Thursday, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (MEA), V Muraleedharan, said that 181 passengers aboard flight IX252 Abu Dhabi to Kochi took off at 6.30 pm (IST) and landed at Cochin airport around 10 pm IST.
“The first flight of the Vande Bharat Mission landed in Kochi with 181 passengers. A moment to appreciate the leadership of @PMOIndia @narendramodi ji and @DrSJaishankar ji who made this complex mission possible. Congratulations to the MEA team and to the brother ministries for their tireless efforts! “Muraleedharan tweeted.
India on Monday announced that as of May 7 it will begin the gradual repatriation of its stranded citizens abroad. The central government sanctioned 64 of these flights to bring 15,000 Indians from 12 different countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the Maldives, Singapore, and the United States.
Five Air India flights from five countries, including Singapore, Bangladesh and some countries in the Middle East, will arrive at various destinations in India on the second day of the government evacuation exercise.
