Civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday said that a total of 30000 stranded Indians will be evacuated from 31 countries during the second phase of the Vande Bharat Mission.
In a series of tweets, Puri said that 149 flights would be operated to bring back stranded Indians from these countries between May 16 and May 22.
A majority of flights would be flown to UAE (eleven) and Oman (eight) to bring back stranded Indians from there.
Seven flights would fly to repatriate Indians from each of these three countries- Australia, Kazakhstan and USA.
Six flights would be flown each to Russia, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to bring back stranded Indians from there.
Five flights would fly to repatriate Indians from each of these countries- Canada, Indonesia, UK and Philippines.
Four flights each would repatriate Indians from Kyrgyzstan and Malaysia.
Three flights would be flown each to Kuwait and Singapore to bring back stranded Indians from there.
Two flights would fly to repatriate Indians from each of this countries-France, Germany, Ireland, Tajikistan and Bahrain.
One flight would be flown each Armenia, Japan, Nigeria, Italy, Nepal, Belarus, Georgia, Thailand and Bangladesh to bring back stranded Indians from there.
“149 flights in 2nd phase of Mission Vande Bharat will not wait for remaining flights of 1st phase to get over. The two phases will be operational simultaneously & seamlessly,” Puri tweeted.
“There will be no gap between them. We remain committed to bringing back our stranded & distressed citizens,” he added.
Meanwhile, 8503 Indians have been flown back to India in 43 inbound flights operated by Air India and Air India Express under Vande Bharat Mission in 6 days beginning from May 7, 2020.