Air India flight carrying Indians stranded in UK reaches Bengaluru

Bengaluru: The Air India aircraft departed from London's Heathrow airport via Delhi for Bengaluru on Sunday with 323 Indian citizen has landed at Kempegowda International Airport.

The Air India Boeing 777 reached Bengaluru at 4:30am with 1.5 hrs delay.

All the passengers will be screened on arrival and shifted to quarantine for 14 days at hotels, hostels and other quarantine centres. About 800 people would be brought back to Karnataka by three Air India flights in the next few days.

This is the first flight from London that has arrived at the KIA after the Union Government flagged the Vande Bharat Mission on May 7 to facilitate the repatriation of the citizens in foreign countries around the world.

Meghna's one of the passengers elated on reaching her home town shared her travelling experiance. "In the flight no hot meals or service, packaged food and water provided (enough for 3-4 meals!). Washroom access is unrestricted, but queueing for washroom in aisles not allowed."

However, she said that one major let-down was that one third of the flight was not provided any protective gear. "Rows 41-52 had to rely on their own supply of masks and gloves." she stated.

On May 10, the High Commission of India to London posted on Twitter ,"Air India's evacuation flight for Bengaluru takes off with 323 stranded Indians on board."

The High commission has addressed the queries of Indian citizens who are stranded in the lockdown and are yearning to come to back to India.

The commission has asked KSRVS Chalam, one of the stranded Indians in London to mail his details after he posted that his wife is Diabetic and needs medical attention as his family could not get the chance to move in the first scheduled flight to Bangalore. "We are senior citizens and currently stranded in London and waiting to go back. Kindly help. Thank you."

Meanwhile, the high commission also cautioned the passengers from sharing yemails with other people on social media.

"Do not be part of Whatsapp or other groups floated by people unknown to you. This could lead to potential frauds. Stay with us. More flights are coming in soon,” the mission has cautioned.