India's return journey: Barbados PM says she expects airport to open in next 6 to 12 hours

Bridgetown, Barbados: The T20 World Cup-winning Indian cricket team is set to return home on a charter flight on Tuesday evening after Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced that the airport is expected to become operational within "the next six to twelve hours," following a shutdown caused by a category 4 hurricane Beryl.

Team India with captain Rohit Sharma, Coach Rahul Dravid, with the support staff, BCCI officials and the families of players are stuck in Barbados after the finals due to the Hurricane Beryl. The team secured the title on Saturday, defeating South Africa by seven runs in the final.

The contingent is scheduled to depart Bridgetown at 6pm (local time) and arrive in Delhi on Wednesday at 7:45pm (IST), according to a source. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will facilitate the players, although the details of the event are yet to be finalised.

Earlier, Mottley gave an update on the situation here.

"I don't want to speak in advance of it, but I've literally been in touch with the airport personnel and they're doing their last checks now and we want to resume normal operations as a matter of urgency," Mottley, who has been overseeing relief operations on the ground, told PTI.

"There are a number of people who were due to leave last night or today or tomorrow morning. And we want to make sure that we can facilitate those persons, so I would anticipate that within the next 6 to 12 hours that the airport will be open," she said.

Life-threatening winds and storms lashed Barbados and nearby islands on Monday. The country, with a population of close to three lakh, has been in a lockdown since Sunday evening.

"(We have) been working to ensure that everyone is safe in Barbados, Barbadians and all of the visitors, of course, who came for the cricket World Cup. We were very blessed that the storm did not come on land.

"The hurricane was 80 miles south of us, which limited, the level of damage on shore. But as you can see, we've had coastal infrastructure and coastal assets have been badly damaged," Mottley said.

"It could have been a lot worse, but now is the time to do the recovery and the cleanup." The window to leave Bridgetown is a narrow one as Mottley revealed that "we have another hurricane coming on Wednesday." She hoped that the Indians, who have stayed put at their hotel since winning the trophy, will be in high spirits despite the lockdown, having ended a title drought of 11 years.

"I'm sure that in spite of the passage of the hurricane, that they would have been in a very, very, very good mood and spirit and to win in the manner that they won on Saturday. I think they will be floating on air for a little time," she quipped.