A record 108 pregnant women and 148 people with medical emergencies were among the repatriates on board three flights from the UAE to India on Saturday, May 16, as the Vande Bharat Mission entered the second phase of evacuation operations.
While the Indian mission in Dubai focused on flying pregnant women home, the embassy in Abu Dhabi prioritised medical emergency cases and those who lost their employment as all three flights left for Kerala.
There were 75 pregnant women flown out from Dubai to Kochi; 18 from Abu Dhabi to Thiruvananthapuram; and 15 from the Capital to Kozhikode.
Thirty-five repatriates with medical issues were able to leave from Dubai and from Abu Dhabi, 63 were bound for Thiruvananthapuram and 50 for Kozhikode sectors. Two flights from Abu Dhabi also had 162 passengers who lost their jobs.
Indian Ambassador to the UAE Pavan Kapoor said the repatriation will continue “as long as it’s required”.
“I am very pleased that Phase 2 of the Vande Bharat Mission has started for us. We had three flights today (Saturday) from the UAE to India and 18 flights in this coming week. We hope this will assist many more Indians to go back urgently to India. We hope to keep this effort going for as long as it’s required. We look forward to the support of everyone who has helped make this happen, including the UAE government and their health services and civil aviation authorities,” Kapoor said.
There were 177 passengers and five infants on board the flight to Thiruvananthapuram while 175 passengers and five infants flew to Kozhikode.
Two doctors, nurses on flight
Meanwhile, Neeraj Agarwal, Press consul at the Consulate-General of India to Dubai, told Khaleej Times that the 75 pregnant women who took off from the emirate were all past the 32nd week of their pregnancies.
“We have one woman who was in the 35th week of her pregnancy. Two doctors and two nurses were on the flight to assist the women in case of emergencies,” said Agarwal.
A total of 181 passengers are on board the flight to Kochi, said the consul.
Agarwal called the flight “truly extraordinary” as it sent home people facing several issues, including some who are critically ill.
“We have 35 medical emergency cases. These include a patient in the last stages of cancer; one patient with a brain tumour; and two passengers who are set to undergo a kidney transplant, one is the donor and the other is the receiver,” said Agarwal.
In the first phase of Vande Bharat Mission, a total of 2,079 passengers were repatriated from Dubai to India, the consulate said. There were 760 workers; 438 stranded tourists, visitors and students; 398 medical emergency cases; 190 pregnant women; 126 senior citizens and 167 others.
Abu Dhabi-Kozhikode flight delayed for more than 3 hours
The repatriation flight from Abu Dhabi to the Indian city of Kozhikode, including 50 people with medical emergencies and 15 pregnant women, departed more than three hours late on Saturday.
The flight was scheduled to take off from the Abu Dhabi International Airport by 6 pm. But the incoming empty flight from Kozhikode landed in Abu Dhabi only past 7.45 pm.
