Vande Bharat Mission: TN people stranded in foreign nations return

As many as 359 people arrived here early on Saturday from Dubai in two Air India flights as part of the government's Vande Bharat Mission to bring home Indian nationals stranded in various countries. Among the passengers was a Tirunelveli-based woman whose husband died in Dubai. The body was also brought in the aircraft.

According to the death certificate issued by the Consulate General of India, the 36-year-old man died of "cardiac and breath function failure." Upon arrival at the airport here, the woman headed to Sengottai in the southern district in an ambulance carrying her spouse's remains. While the first flight saw the arrival of 182 people -151 men, 28 women, and 3 children- there were 177 people in the second aircraft (138 men and 39 women) and the flights arrived in the wee hours of today, airport officials and Greater Chennai Corporation said.

The stranded people hail from Tamil Nadu and they were working in the United Arab Emirates. On Friday night, a flight from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia arrived at Tiruchirappalli airport with about 200 passengers. On their arrival, nasal and throat swab samples were taken for coronavirus testing at the specially set up COVID-19 kiosks in the airport.

Authorities deputed several teams of health workers attired in protective suits to screen and take samples from the returnees. While one group of people were lodged in the premises of an educational institution in suburban Melakottayur, two other groups of men and women got accommodated in two hotels here at Periyamet and Ekkaduthangal respectively. They will be in their respective places of stay for about 14 days, the authorities said.