Vande Bharat Mission: Air India brings home 144 stranded Indians from Ukraine

Under Centre's Vande Bharat Mission, a special Air India flight on Saturday brought home 144 stranded Indians from Ukraine. The Centre had announced that their travel will be arranged via aircraft and naval ships in a phased manner. The Mission that started on May 7, was divided into phases, out of which, the third phase is currently on-going.

As per the official statement, the repatriated persons, who mostly belong to Punjab and nearby states, will reach their districts under the supervision of the respective state government representatives where they will be quarantined as per the Centre's guidelines.

"Air India flight no. AI1928 carrying 144 Indians from Borispol (Ukraine) via Delhi landed at Chandigarh International Airport on June 27 at around 12:50 am," the statement read.
 

To date, as many as 2,50,087 Indian nationals stranded abroad have been repatriated since the beginning of the repatriation mission last month, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.

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India adds more flights to Vande Bharat Mission

On June 24, it was reported that third phase of Vande Bharat Mission has widened the scope of the mission and there were more countries, thereby increasing the number of entry points.

India has added 58 more flights to evacuate stranded and distressed nationals from Gulf countries between now and June 30, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on June 10. He informed that the number of flights from Gulf under phase-3 of the 'Vande Bharat Mission' has been increased from originally planned 107 to 165.

The minister further said that Phase 3 of Vande Bharat Mission will have 80 flights to Europe, including two daily flights to London and two to other European destinations, between now and 30 June. Moreover, 10 additional flights to the United States and Canada will be flown apart from 70 that have already been announced.

State-run carrier Air India had previously announced that it will operate around 300 flights to Europe, Australia, Canada, the USA, the UK and Africa between June 10 and July 1 during phase 3 of Vande Bharat Mission.

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