Air India’s jumbo B747 aircraft reached Delhi on February 1 morning after evacuating 324 Indians from China’s coronavirus -hit Wuhan, the epicentre of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, officials said. The plane, carrying 211 students, 110 working professionals and three minors, reached Delhi around 7.30 am, they said.
Another flight of the airline departed for the Chinese city from Delhi at 1.37 p.m., the officials said. Five doctors from the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital who were onboard the first flight are also in the second flight, the Air India spokesperson said.
The first flight departed from Delhi airport at 1.17 p.m. on January 31 to evacuate Indian nationals from China.
Hours after the arrival of the flight from the Chinese city in Delhi, the Air India spokesperson said, “Another flight will depart to Wuhan from Delhi... with a different set of crew, same doctors’ team with other aircraft. The rescue team is again headed by Captain Amitabh Singh, Director Operation, Air India.”
Before departure , Air India Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani had said, “No service will take place in the plane. Whatever food is there will be kept in seat pockets. As there will be no service, there will be no interaction (between cabin crew and passengers).”
“Masks have been arranged for the crew and passengers. For our crew, we have also arranged a complete protective gear,” he had added.
Air India said another special flight to evacuate Indians from in China would depart from the Delhi airport on Saturday afternoon, hours after the first flight with 324 passengers landed in the Indian capital .
The first flight — which evacuated 324 passengers from Wuhan — had a team of five doctors from Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, one paramedical staff, five cockpit crew members, and 15 cabin crew members.
The 324 passengers comprised 211 students, 110 working professionals and three minors, the Air India spokesperson said.
Air India has done such evacuations earlier also from countries such as Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Kuwait and Nepal.
