Indian Air Force’s C-17 Globemaster aircraft landed at the Hindon Air Force Station in Ghaziabad on Tuesday with the first batch of 58 Indian pilgrims stranded in Iran in the wake of COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.
The evacuated Indians were being assisted by an IAF medical team and support staff onboard the aircraft which left from Tehran with them for the humanitarian assistance mission.
Informing the same, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar thanked the Indian Embassy in Tehran and the Indian medical team for their efforts and operating under challenging conditions.
First batch of 58 Indian pilgrims being brought back from #Iran. IAF C-17 taken off from Tehran and expected to land soon in Hindon. pic.x.com/IqZ8NUK1M6
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) March 10, 2020
The minister also appreciated the cooperation of Iranian authorities and added that the ministry is working to get back all the stranded individuals.
The IAF aircraft has landed. Mission completed.
On to the next.— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) March 10, 2020
The Indians will be sent to selected quarantine camps soon after their medical observation and they will be kept there under observation for next 15 days.
India on Monday night sent C-17 Globemaster to evacuate the Indians. The aircraft took off at around 8 pm from Hindon air base. The government has began evacuation operations from several countries in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak which spread from Wuhan city in Hubei province of China — the epicenter of the Coronavirus outbreak.
India engaged with China to safely evacuate its citizens and citizens of other friendly nations on a priority basis. Air India earlier operated two special flights for the evacuation of 654 passengers that included 647 Indian citizens.
The confirmed cases of COVID-19 coronavirus have reached 43 in India with new cases being reported from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala.
The global death toll due to COVID-19 coronavirus has reached 4,012 in the outbreak that has spread to over 100 countries with more than 110,000 cases of infection.