In Sri Lanka, the third flight under Vande bharat mission and first from Colombo to Delhi took off this morning. The Air India flight carrying around 240 Indian nationals will also fly to Lucknow and Gaya later today.
Earlier, the two flights at end of last month and last week had carried passengers to Mumbai, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Kochi and Bengaluru. Indian high commissioner Gopal Baglay thanked Sri Lankan government for the help extended in making the operations smooth.
Around 700 Indian nationals were evacuated by Indian navy ship INS Jalashwa
early this month to Tuticorin. Around two thousand Indian nationals have registered with Indian high commission in Colombo for repatriation. They comprise of mainly small businessmen and traders, stranded tourists and workers.
Most of them have already returned with the help of ship and flight operations under Vande Bharat mission apart from some chartered flights facilitated by the high commission. The high commission has called upon any Indian to reach out to its emergency numbers in case of any help required.