Special flight with 224 Indians takes off from Washington DC

A special Air India flight carrying 224 Indian nationals including infants departed from Washington DC to New Delhi on Wednesday under the Vande Bharat Mission, the initiative launched to repatriate Indians stranded abroad due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

"The flight from Washington DC bound for Delhi has taken off with 224 passengers including infants. We thank the tireless efforts of @airindiain in Washington DC and the team," the Embassy of India in Washington DC said in a tweet.

The Vande Bharat Mission, which commenced from May 7 to evacuate Indians stranded abroad due to coronavirus pandemic, is in its third phase.

The recent phase began on June 11.

Under the third phase, India would have 550 flights including 191 feeder flights.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said that nearly 1,25,000 Indians have returned from different countries under the Vande Bharat Mission.

He informed that 6,037 people returned to India from overseas on June 23.

"Vande Bharat continues to be a mission of hope and happiness for stranded and distressed Indians around the world. So far, nearly 125K Indians have come back on these evacuation flights and nearly 43K have flown out of India. Today (on Tuesday) 6,037 people returned from different countries," Puri said in a tweet.