Over 687,000 stranded Indians returned home under Vande Bharat mission: MEA

Over 687,000 Indians have returned from abroad after the government launched the "Vande Bharat" evacuation mission on May 7 in view of the coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.

The fourth phase of the Vande Bharat mission, which is currently underway, has been augmented with the addition of around 120 flights between July 15-31, MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said at a media briefing.

"These additional flights will cater to the demand for repatriation from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Malaysia, Singapore, the UK, Europe, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine," Srivastava said.

With this augmentation, this phase now has 751