A special Air India flight carrying 119 Indians and five other nationals from Sri Lanka, Nepal, South Africa, and Peru, who were on board the coronavirus-hit quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess, landed in New Delhi on Thursday morning.
A total of 138 Indians, which included 132 crew members and six passengers were among the 3,711 people on the luxury ship Diamond Princess off the coast of Yokohama.
The ship was quarantined in Japan on February 5 after it emerged that a passenger from Hong Kong who disembarked the ship had tested positive for the virus. Among the Indian citizens aboard the ship, 16 were tested positive for coronavirus.
They will stay in Japan for treatment, while the remaining will be repatriated to India. The whole repatriation is being taken care of by the Indian government. Four passengers on the fateful ship have already died.
As of Wednesday morning, there were at least 705 confirmed cases of coronavirus that stemmed from the Diamond Princess that includes six Indians.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar confirmed the news
In the morning External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar tweeted, “Air India flight has just landed in Delhi from Tokyo, carrying 119 Indians & 5 nationals from Sri Lanka, Nepal, South Africa&Peru who were quarantined onboard the #DiamondPrincess due to #COVID19. Appreciate the facilitation of Japanese authorities. Thank you @airindiain once again.”
The Indian government also thanked Japanese authorities for facilitating the evacuation effort.
Indian crew and passengers leaving from cruise ship Diamond Princess and boarding an Air India flight to come to Delhi
While 119 Indians have been evacuated and six infected are undergoing treatment in Japan, confirmation regarding the other 13 passengers is pending from the government side.
