Spl Air India flight with 324 Indians from China's Wuhan returns

Air India’s jumbo B747 plane, evacuating 324 Indian nationals from the coronavirus-hit Wuhan in China, landed here on Saturday (February 1) morning, officials said.

The plane reached Delhi around 7.30 am, they said.

“With 324 passengers, the special flight has taken off for India from Wuhan. It may reach Delhi at 7.30 am,” said an Air India spokesperson at 1.19 am on Saturday.

There are five doctors from Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital and one paramedical staff on board, said the Air India spokesperson.

The flight had departed from Delhi airport at 1.17 pm on Friday to evacuate Indian nationals from China, where more than 200 people – none of them Indian – have died due to novel coronavirus.

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On Friday evening, the Air India spokesperson had stated that another special flight may take off from Delhi airport on Saturday to evacuate Indians from Wuhan.

The death toll from the novel coronavirus outbreak in China has risen to 259 with total confirmed cases surging to 11,791 amid stepped-up efforts by a number of countries to evacuate their nationals from Hubei province, the epicentre of the virus, officials said on Saturday.