1.1 mn Indians stranded across globe return under Vande Bharat Mission

New Delhi: The civil aviation ministry informed that 1.1 million Indians, stranded in foreign countries because of the Coronavirus pandemic, have been brought back. These include more than 100,000 Indians, brought by the marine route, along with the people evacuated by aeroplanes. The sixth phase of the mission will start on the 1st of September, and 31 Air India flights have been scheduled in this phase.

All the major countries in the world announced lockdowns because of the Coronavirus pandemic, which started in China. This resulted in millions of Indians getting stranded, who were visiting foreign countries for tourism or any other reasons. The Indian government has been taking the initiative since May to bring all these people back home. The Vande Bharat mission was started on the 6th of May. On Tuesday, the civil aviation ministry revealed the information regarding the people who were brought back during this mission through a tweet.

The tweet said ‘1.098 million people have been brought home till date. We thank all those involved in the mission. This would not have been possible without your cooperation. Thank You!’ The fifth phase of Vande Bharat mission started on the 1st of August and will continue till the 31st of October. During this phase, Indians from 23 countries will be brought back home.

The sixth phase of the mission will start soon, and 31 Air India flights have been scheduled for this phase. 17 and 13 flights will take off from Toronto and Vancouver in Canada respectively, and one flight will take off from Shanghai in China. The destination for all the flights will be Delhi. The flight schedules of the sixth phase have been posted on the website of Vande Bharat Mission. The facility for bookings has also been made available on the same website.