PM's letter of appreciation to crew involved in Wuhan evacuation

Appreciating the "high level of commitment" to duty shown by officials of Air India and Health Ministry who evacuated Indians and Maldivians from the coronavirus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has written a letter of appreciation to those involved in the exercise, the Prime Minister's Office said on Thursday.

"The prime minister has issued a letter of appreciation to the team members of the evacuation operations. This letter would be handed over to the crew by the Minister of State for Civil Aviation," the PMO statement said.

Air India had conducted an emergency evacuation operations from Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak in China.

"Despite being aware of the aforementioned severe situation in the region, the Air India sent two B-747 aircraft with teams of Air India as well as teams from Ministry of Health for two consecutive days, on January 31 and February 1, returning the next day," the statement pointed out.

In its February 5 meeting, the Union Cabinet had congratulated crew members of the two Air India special flights that evacuated 647 Indians from Wuhan, saying they did not express any fear and gave primacy to their duties.