Government announces three more back-to-back evacuations of stranded Indians from coronavirus-hit Iran
New Delhi/IBNS: Three evacuations will be made back to back from coronavirus-hit Iran, Ministry of Civil Aviation said on Thursday.
The decision to conduct back-to-back evacuations from Iran was taken today, the ministry said in a joint press conference with ministry of health on COVID-19.
In the first evacuation, at least 130-150 passengers will take Iran Air flight and land at Mumbai on Friday, the Civil Aviation Ministry. A similar evacuation will be conducted on Saturday and the third one will be done on the March 16th or 17th, the ministry said.
At least 6000 Indians are stranded in Iran, which is one of the worst-hit countries by coronavirus.
These include about 1,100 pilgrims, mainly from the union territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir, and the state of Maharashtra, nearly 300 students mostly from the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, 1000 fisherman from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, and some other people who are on a longer-term stay in Iran for pursuing their livelihood and religious studies.
On Wednesday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the government is focussing on bringing back Indians stranded in coronavirus-stricken Italy and Iran after screening them for the infection.
He said the government will decide its approach for evacuation based on exposure risk and age of the evacuees.
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