Stepping up its efforts to evacuate Indian students stranded in war-hit Ukraine, the Centre on Monday decided that Union ministers Hardeep Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and V K Singh will travel to its neighbouring countries to coordinate the evacuation mission and help students, government sources said.
"Not only this, but we also helped the citizens of our neighbouring countries to return to their country when the COVID-19 pandemic had struck, irrespective of caste, religion, class, area etc," said minister of state for defence Ajay Bhatt.
The incident happened after thousands of Afghans gathered at the Kabul airport to seek an evacuation flight amid Taliban's takeover of the country, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Non-scheduled commercial flights are being arranged and this operation will begin from May 7 in a phased manner.
An IAF flight carrying Indian student Harjot Singh, who was shot in Ukrainian capital Kyiv a few days ago, landed at the Hindon airbase in New Delhi on Monday evening, officials said.
All Indian nationals, who were stranded in Simikot and Hilsa of Humla district in far-west Nepal, safely returned to Kathmandu on Wednesday.
A video clip of the scuffle inside the aircraft was shared widely on social media on Wednesday. In the clip, a man could be seen being slapped multiple times by a few co-passengers.
They said stranded Indians in central Asia as well as in various European countries will be brought back home in the second phase of evacuation beginning May 15.
Simultaneously more than 60 countries led by the United States and the European Union issued a joint statement urging those in positions of power and authority across Afghanistan to bear responsibility and accountability for the protection of human life and property, and for the immediate restoration of security and civil order.
Meanwhile, India has cancelled all visas issued to foreign nationals coming from China as it stepped up efforts to combat the spread of novel coronavirus after 150 passengers were identified with symptoms of the deadly virus and sent to isolation units.
Of these four flights (except Qatar Airways) returned to Kozhikode airport as the weather condition in Kozhikode gained normalcy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday directed officials to ensure safe evacuation of all Indian citizens from Afghanistan and to provide refuge to Sikhs and Hindus wanting to come to India from there, as he chaired a crucial high-level meeting in the backdrop of the Taliban takeover of the war-torn country, sources said.
It was a repatriation flight for the Indians stuck in London and being exposed to infection during the long journey was a risk but Formula 1 hopeful Jehan Daruvala had no option.
The IAF transport aircraft landed in Jamnagar, Gujarat with over 120 people including officials and security personnel from the embassy.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar took to Twitter to share images of the evacuees after their arrival at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.
?A terminal at an airport in this Australian city was on Friday evacuated following a security alert, leading to disruption of several fights. A 'security alert' at Tullamarine Airport forced the evacuation of Tigerair's terminal 4 and disrupted some flights.
A Pentagon official concerned with evacuation operations said the reason the Taliban wants to prevent these people from leaving is likely because they intend to punish them for their cooperation with the US.
India on Thursday wrapped up its air evacuation operations from Yemen rescuing another 630 of its citizens from Sanaa, taking the total number of Indians brought home from the war-ravaged country to over 4,640 besides around 960 nationals from 41 countries.
After hectic diplomatic efforts, India finally got permission to land in Sanaa and the first flight with a passenger capacity of 120 has landed, the spokesperson in the external affairs ministry said.
The towers -- both taller than Delhi's iconic Qutub Minar -- will be brought down in less than 15 seconds by waterfall implosion technique. They will be the tallest structures yet in India to be demolished, officials said.
Besides the 19 Indians who tested positive, antibodies were found in the tests of 39 others, officials said.
According to aviation industry sources, around 630 domestic flights of Monday were cancelled due to the Centre's Sunday night announcement that there would be no flights in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, and limited operations at major airports such as Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad.
Many big countries are facing difficulties in doing so for their citizens, Modi said.
Shah said he is confident that BJP will return to power in four states -- Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur -- and make impressive gains in Punjab.
The country's largest IT services company TCS on Wednesday said it has 250 staffers in Israel and stressed that the ongoing conflict will not have any major impact on its business. The company said it is in constant touch with all staffers, and at present, the focus is their safety and to look at how they help the communities they live in. It has initiated business continuity plans wherever necessary to ensure that the customers do not get impacted, TCS chief operating officer N Ganapathy Subramaniam told reporters, adding that it does not expect any major impact of the war on its business.
India tonight evacuated more than 300 Indians from Yemeni port city of Al Hudaydah, taking the total number of those rescued to over 800 from the strife-torn country as government stepped up efforts to get clearance for air sorties to bring back its nationals from Sanaa.
Launching its biggest ever repatriation exercise, India on Thursday airlifted 363 of its citizens, including nine infants, stranded in the United Arab Emirates due to the international travel lockdown over the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cargo and evacuation flight operations at the Kolkata airport were suspended on Wednesday till till 5 am of Thursday.
About 16,000 Indians, mostly students, are stranded in Ukraine as Russia's invasion of the east European country entered its second day on Friday. Of the students, many studying medicine in Kharkiv and Kyiv, about 2,500 are from Gujarat and 2,320 from Kerala.
On Sunday, 229 Indians arrived in Bengaluru while 365 people reached Delhi the day before.
At least nine people have been killed and 77 people trapped across Taiwan after a powerful earthquake struck the island's eastern coast, CNN reported, citing the National Fire Agency (NFA).
Virgin Atlantic plans to operate three flights a week from Delhi to London's Heathrow from September 2, while Mumbai services are planned to re-commence from September 17 with four flights per week. Both the destinations will provide connections to New York JFK and will operate on 787-9 Dreamliner.
India has evacuated at least 670 Indian nationals from Sudan and is looking to rescue more of its citizens from the strife-torn African nation before the end of a tenuous ceasefire between the regular army and a paramilitary force.
The Singapore Airlines agreed to fly the stranded passengers to India, as there is no scheduled Air India flight for Thursday.
As evacuation of Indians from Libya gained momentum, the government on Monday said it had sought aircraft landing rights in Sehba in interior Libya where over 1,000 Indians have been stranded as anti-government protesters took control of several cities in the oil-rich nation.
While 392 people arrived in New Delhi in a C-17 heavy-lift aircraft of the Indian Air Force, another batch of 362 Indians were brought to Bengaluru.
CA will talk to the IPL franchise owners on this arrangement but conceded that it will not be a simple thing.
'The right engine of GoAir flight G8 802 from Ahmedabad to Bengaluru is suspected to have suffered from a foreign object damage (FOD) while on take-off roll,' the airline said.
The monsoon spelt mayhem in several parts of the country on Monday, particularly Mumbai where local train services and flight operations were hit and everyday life disrupted as well as Assam that was grappling with floods yet again.
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