After making landfall near Puducherry on November 30, Cyclone Fengal weakened on Sunday, but torrential downpour under its influence paralysed the union territory, with the Army stepping in to evacuate stranded persons in inundated streets.
Troops of both the countries are locked in a tense standoff in the disputed areas of Pangong Tso and Galwan Valley along the LAC.
The pilots and cabin crew were provided training in all the steps on donning and doffing of Personal Protective Equipment suits, infection control practices to be followed inflight and also the management of anticipated health emergencies during the flight, the medical college authorities said.
The first plane -- Air India's jumbo B747 aircraft carrying 211 students, 110 working professionals and three minors-- reached Delhi around 7.30 am and another flight of the airline would leave the national capital for the Chinese city in the afternoon.
The two leaders discussed the safe evacuation of Indian nationals from the conflict areas.
A Goa Police officer said the flight which took off from Moscow and was supposed to land at the Dabolim airport was diverted to Jamnagar due to a bomb scare.
India does not have any immediate plan to evacuate its citizens from Ukraine and its focus has been on ensuring their safety rather than on anything "larger", the ministry of external affairs said on Thursday.
The landfall process of the severe cyclonic storm Dana was complete on Friday morning and the system took at least eight and half hours to enter the landmass, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
The passengers have been quarantined at the Indian Army Wellness Centre at Jaisalmer.
Scindia said on Twitter the Romanian prime minister has assured his continued support to Indian students crossing the Romanian borders.
The aircraft was to carry a large consignment of medical supplies to China and bring back more Indians from Wuhan.
The flight, which was scheduled to depart at 8.20 pm, had to be grounded following the hoax threat, they said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said that one person died in the state in cyclone Dana, even as the administration evacuated around 2.16 lakh people from the low-lying areas.
Squadron Leader Kanwal Deep Mehra's daredevilry during the 1971 War brought down a Pakistani F-86 Sabre. But he had to bail out of his plane, was badly injured. Then a fierce band of armed guerillas evacuated him to safety at great risk to their lives.
India is primarily focusing on evacuating its nationals from conflict zones in eastern Ukraine including Kharkiv and Sumy, and that the total number of Indians still stuck in the battle-scarred nation is roughly in the range of 2,000 to 3,000.
The Supreme Court on Friday took note of the Centre's submission that it has evacuated 17,000 stranded Indians from the conflict zone in Ukraine, saying it appreciated the efforts but was concerned about the anxiety of people.
Amid deepening crisis in Afghanistan, United States President Joe Biden defended his move to withdraw troops from the country, saying history will record this as a 'logical, rational, and right decision'.
The Airbus C-295 can carry up to 71 troops, or 50 paratroopers with battle loads. It can ferry supplies to locations inaccessible to the IAF's heavy transport fleet.
Wing Commander Pratap Marathe's story is one of dedication, bravery, and humour, a shining example of the spirit of the Indian Air Force. Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd) salutes Wing Commander Marathe who passed into the ages last week.
A section of the main terminal at Denver International Airport was evacuated because of a possible security threat, officials said.
Indian evacuation flights are operating out of Bucharest and Budapest. The government is not charging the rescued citizens for the evacuation flights.
The Indian embassy in Hungary suggested that the evacuation mission from the country is nearing completion as it is beginning the last leg of flights under the operation.
Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said India has also approached the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva and requested it to be cognizant of the security interests of the Indian citizens and escort them out, wherever possible, when it starts its operation in Ukraine.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar briefed the leaders on the latest situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban captured power there last week.
'We have tried to get in touch with the embassy as well as the Ministry of External Affairs. We have not heard from them yet but I am confident that the government must be putting efforts for our safe and quick evacuationfrom Kabul'
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) held a series of high-level meetings to put into operation certain contingency plans in view of the rapidly changing situation in Ukraine.
It is learnt that the consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif will continue to operate through the local staff members.
Pakistan's national flag carrier on Thursday suspended flight operations to Afghanistan due to what it called "security concerns", hours after the Taliban government threatened to ban the airline unless it reduced the fare on the Kabul-Islamabad route to previous levels.
Russia has informed the United Nations Security Council that Russian buses are ready at crossing points to go to the eastern Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv and Sumy to evacuate Indian students and other foreign nationals who are stranded there, amidst the raging conflict in the East European country.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday assured Prime Minister Narendra Modi that his forces are doing everything to evacuate the stranded Indian citizens, mostly students, from the war-torn eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, according to his office.
Yagi, the 11th typhoon of this year, made two landfalls in China on Friday, first striking Hainan and later Guangdong province.
Kerala top the list of state-wise break-up of repatriation requests with 25,246, followed by 6,617 from Tamil Nadu and 4,341 from Maharashtra. A total of 3,715 people from Uttar Pradesh requested for evacuation, 3,320 from Rajasthan, 2,796 from Telangana and, 2,786 from Karnataka.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh and around 200 Indians, mainly students, also returned to India on the flight that landed at 6.15 pm, they said.
All Indian nationals, who were stranded in Simikot and Hilsa of Humla district in far-west Nepal, safely returned to Kathmandu on Wednesday.
"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.
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.
"But the completion by August 31 depends on the Taliban continuing to cooperate and allow access to the airport for those who were transporting out and no disruptions to our operations," US President Joe Biden said.
India on Tuesday said the evacuation of its embassy staff from Kabul has been completed and the focus now would be to ensure the safe return of all Indian nationals from the Afghan capital in view of the prevailing situation in the country.
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.
