Second evacuation flights lands in Karnataka with stranded citizens

Around 177 passengers returned from Singapore to Karnataka in Air India second evacuation flight to the state. Among the returnees at least 42 of them were stranded in South East Asia during the lockdown, as no overseas and domestic commercial flights were operated since March 23.

Bengaluru: The second evacuation flight to Karnataka landed in this tech city on Tuesday from Singapore with 177 returnees. The foreign returnees were stranded overseas for about 50 days due to the suspension of international air services by the government since March 23 and the extended lockdown since March 25 to contain the coronavirus spread across the country.

"The Boeing 737-8HG of Air-India Express (IX-485/485) landed at the city international airport at 8:56 p.m., with 177 passengers and three infants from Singapore," the official said.

Of the 177 passengers, 42 alighted from the aircraft through the aero-bridge, while the remaining 135 evacuees were seated for onward journey to Kochi in the neighbouring state of Kerala.

"The 42 passengers to the southern state included women, senior citizens, students, tourists and professionals, who were held up in Singapore and South East Asia during the lockdown, as no overseas and domestic commercial flights were operated since March 23," said the official.

The passengers were received by the state health department and the state-run A-I subsidiary officials at the arrival terminal. The returnees were given new masks to wear and sanitiser to wash their hands and were told to maintain social distancing till they exit the airport.

"As per the standard operating procedure and protocols to be observed by all foreign returnees, the passengers will be screened and tested to ensure that they are asymptomatic and free from the Covid-19 virus," a state official said.

After completing the formalities, which is expected to take at least 2 hours, the passengers will be ferried in state-run chartered buses in batches for the mandatory 14-day quarantine in star hotels booked for them in the city.

Passengers who did not have an Indian mobile connection were given a new Sim card by the local operators and got it activated to download the mandatory quarantine apps, the Aarogya Setu and Apthamitra, before leaving the airport.

As part of the government's evacuation programme ‘Vande Bharat Mission', three more repatriation A-I flights are due to land in Bengaluru from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, San Francisco in the US and Singapore on May 13-15 with over 600 state citizens.

"One more A-I Express flight from Dubai with 177 passengers landed at the Mangaluru airport on the state's west coast at 10:04 p.m. on Tuesday night," the official added.

(With inputs from IANS)