Australia: Tamil family's deportation flight to return after 'mid-air' ruling

Priya, her husband Nades and two Australian-born daughters lost all hopes when they were "forced" on a plane to Sri Lanka after being told that they are being deported. But a last-minute injunction won by their lawyers saved the day and allowed the Tamil family to stay in the country, according to local news platforms. The conditions and time frame of their future stay in Australia is not yet clear.

9 News reports that the flight that was carrying the Tamil family is now returning to Darwin. Their flight is expected to land at 02:00 am local time (09:30 pm IST) and many people are also planning to gather at Darwin airport to welcome the family.

Priya, Nades and her family have the support of thousands of people. A change.org petition titled "Bring Priya and her beautiful family back home to Biloela, Queensland" has received over 200,000 signatures.

The petition says that the family is living in Australia's Biloela, in Central Queensland for more than 3 years. The family has been held in a Melbourne detention center since March 2018, after being taken from their home in Biloela, in Queensland, during a pre-dawn raid.

The authorities are facing heavy criticism over the family being "forced on a plane" for deportation.

A Twitter user claimed that the family is on the flight number SND2, tracking it through Flight Radar, we can see that the flight is indeed headed towards Darwin right now although in the place of arrival it mentions "N/A". You can see the real-time information about the flight here.