177 Indians head home from Malaysia, to arrive in Trichy

Day 3 of Vande Bharat Mission, world’s largest repatriation programme launched by India to rescue stranded citizens in various countries, saw the maiden rescue flight

Air India Express

(IX 0681) take off from Kuala Lumpur for Trichy with 177 passengers on board.

This first flight from Malaysia after travel restrictions were announced on March 17, in the wake of Covid 19 pandemic, included 60 elderly citizens, 4 persons with medical conditions, 14 pregnant women, 8 children and one infant. According to a senior Indian embassy official, the tourists, migrant labourers and students were given a priority while planning the evacuation schedule for Malaysia.

The cheerful group of passengers were seen off by Malaysian Indian Congress Vice President Sivaraajh Chandran and the Indian High Commissioner

Mridul Kumar

.

Later, in the official statement released by the High Commission, Mridul Kumar thanked the Malaysian leadership, the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia, and several NGOs for providing timely cooperation in these efforts.

The release also stated that Malaysia is one of the select countries identified by the Government of India for inclusion in Phase 1 of Vande Bharat Mission under which non-scheduled commercial flights and Indian Navy ships are bringing back Indians stranded overseas. A few thousand Indian nationals are stranded here in Malaysia and given the large number, priority has been given to people in distress.

Mr Dharmakrishna is one such tourist from Chennai who saw his 5-day holiday escape to KL turn into an unending wait for returning home. “I am very grateful to Indian government and the Embassy here for arranging this flight. My old mother wanted to visit the ancient Batu Caves Temple here and just two days before our return, the embargo was announced.”

Other tourists and visitors who are still waiting for their flights to be announced told TOI they are closely following all updates from the first batch of flyers in the whatsapp groups formed temporarily. Mrs Khushi Agrwwal, on a holiday with her family, said, “any news that is taking us closer to our country lessens our anxiety. Though we are grateful that our food and shelter was taken care of by the Indian High Commission, we just want to head home.”

There are flights scheduled for Kochi and Chennai on 10th and 11th. Other flights from Malaysia for Mumbai and Delhi are likely to take off on 12th and 14th May. The returnees would be required to undergo universal institutional quarantine for 14 days.

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