Vande Bharat Mission: Over one million stranded Indians return, 130000 people flown to other countries

New Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday (August 10) informed that around one million stranded Indians have returned to the country under the Vande Bharat Mission (VBM), over 130 K people have flown to various countries.

Taking to microblogging Twitter, Puri said, "Nearly one million stranded Indians have returned through various modes under VBM and more than 130K have flown to various countries. Driven by the aspirations of our people, the mission continues to facilitate repatriation and outbound travel of stranded and distressed citizens.''

Nearly one million stranded Indians have returned through various modes under VBM & more than 130K have flown to various countries.

Driven by the aspirations of our people, the mission continues to facilitate repatriation & outbound travel of stranded & distressed citizens. pic.twitter.com/dRHqaup0L5 — Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) August 10, 2020

Out of the one million stranded Indians who returned back to their homeland, over 6,000 had returned to India from across the world on Sunday (August 9) alone, said Union Minister for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri as he recommenced the updates of Vande Bharat Mission with tributes to those who died in the Kozhikode plane accident.

A special Air India flight, under the Vande Bharat Mission, carrying Indian nationals stranded due to COVID-19 restrictions took off from Sydney airport on Monday.

"Vande Bharat Mission continues to bring home stranded Indian Nationals. It has facilitated travel of over a million stranded Indian nationals so far!! Another Special flight, AI 301 Sydney-Delhi sector left Sydney airport today. Thank you @dfat @airindiain @MEAIndia and @MoCA_GoI," Consulate General of India, Sydney tweeted.

In a tragic incident, on Friday late evening the Air India Express flight carrying 190 passengers including 10 infants skidded while landing at Karipur airport in Kozhikode.

The Vande Bharat Mission started in early May to evacuate Indians stranded abroad due to coronavirus restrictions.