Air India on Friday commenced evacuation programme for Indians stuck in the Coronavirus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan as its double-decker jumbo 'Ajanta' B747 aircraft took off from Delhi to bring them back to the country.
Wuhan is the epicentre of coronavirus which has been linked to 213 deaths so far in China. The vast majority of the cases have been in Hubei province and its provincial capital, Wuhan. No deaths have been reported outside China.
The scheduled departure time for 'Ajanta' was 12:30 pm and it was airborne around 1:17 pm. The aircraft is expected to return after 2 am on Saturday. The national carrier may operate another evacuation flight on Saturday if required.
The 423-seater plane, VT-ESP, has 15 cabin crew and 5 pilots with the rescue mission being led by Captain Amitabh Singh, who is Director Operations at Air India. A team of five doctors from Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, one paramedical staff from Air India with prescribed medicine, masks, overcoats and packed food are also onboard the special plane. A team of engineers and security personnel have also been sent on the evacuation flight.
Chairman and Managing director Ashwani Lohani was also present for the departure of the flight.
"The national carrier once again comes to the rescue - this time to evacuate Indians from Wuhan, the site of the outbreak of coronavirus. This mission begins today with a Jumbo 747 operating between Delhi and Wuhan" Lohani wrote on Twitter.
"Masks have been arranged for the crew and passengers. For our crew, we have also arranged complete protective gear," Lohani said before the aircraft's departure.
Flag carrier Air India was also involved in evacuation programmes from Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Kuwait and Nepal.
In August 1990, Air India and erstwhile Indian Airlines evacuated more than one lakh Indians from Iraq and Kuwait via 488 flights in 59 days, creating a world record for the largest aerial evacuation since 1948-49.
India detected its first case of coronavirus in Kerala on Jan 29. The patient is a student at Wuhan and is currently stable and has been kept in isolation in a hospital.
The passengers arriving from Wuhan will be kept under quarantine at state-run facilities.
The Indian government has asked its citizens to avoid travel to China unless absolutely essential. Passengers coming from China and Hong Kong are being subjected to thermal screening at Indian airports to detect any signs of the respiratory virus.
