Passengers received protective gloves and masks as they prepared for takeoff.
One hundred and fifteen Indian nationals boarded an Air India flight from Ben-Gurion Airport on Tuesday, returning home to their native country after being stranded for more than two months due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Indian English-language daily The Hindu reported.
The passengers on board the flight included unemployed caregivers, pregnant women and students, though it also included five Israeli diplomats who were posted to Dehli.
Almost the entirety of the Indian Embassy in Israel’s staff was present at the airport to see the passengers off. They handed out protective gloves and masks for the passengers, according to the report.
The evacuation was part of the “Vande Bharat Mission” that the Indian government launched in early May, which aimed to help Indians abroad return home due to the coronavirus restrictions limiting travel worldwide.
Air India, which is India’s national carrier, has worked to support the government’s evacuation efforts. While passengers are required to purchase tickers, the airline has worked hard to keep the price reasonable, and has even worked to adjust the fares for those who bought tickers through sales officials and wanted refunds, the airline’s head in Israel Pankaj Tiwari told PTI.
“These are very challenging times and the Vande Bharat Mission flight to India is one of our many efforts to reach out to our community of students and caregivers here in Israel,” Indian Ambassador to Israel Sanjeev Singla told the Press Trust of India. “The Ministry of External Affairs, the Civil Aviation Ministry, the Home Ministry, the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the embassy have taken all possible steps to ensure that our nationals stranded and facing hardships for various reasons are able to return home.”
This evacuation follows a similar Air India flight on Monday, which took dozens of Israelis from New Dehli back to Israel.
In light of the lockdown in India to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the embassy and consulate had to arrange special permission for Israelis, who had been stuck in India for two months, to travel to New Delhi from eight different cities.
As reported by The Jerusalem Post