Fourth flight evacuates Russian nationals from Delhi

The fourth flight with Russian nationals on board departed from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport to their country on the intervening night of March 31 and April 1, the country's embassy said on Wednesday.

At least 28 Russian nationals who arrived in India for different purposes were stranded here due to curbs placed on travel by the government to contain the spread of coronavirus.

The Indian government curtailed all international flights and later extended that suspension on domestic flights as well.

Seeing the situation turning adverse, the Russian Embassy decided to extend an immediate helping hand to the 28 stranded nationals who were in New Delhi and sought help to return to their country.

An official from Russian Embassy told ANI, last month, that the nationals had come to Delhi to take "a dedicated flight to Russia however it was full. We took care of these people by providing them shelter and basic food products. Now we expect them to go by next dedicated flight. Hopefully, there will be several because we have thousands of stranded tourists here. We have got almost one thousand people signed up saying they would want to go back to Russia."

The Russian embassy has to date facilitated transportation by a special Aeroflot flight of about 388 Russian citizens who were stranded in India due to the lockdown.

A charter flight was also arranged for a large Russian tour operator to bring back its 126 stranded clients from Goa.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, to date, 1,637 cases have been reported, including 132 cured/discharged persons and 38 deaths from India.