India successfully evacuated 168 people from Kabul on 22 August among which 107 were Indian nationals. Indian Air Force’s C-17 aircraft on Sunday landed at the Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad around 10 am.
The flight took off from Kabul earlier in the day, informed Ministry of External Affair’s spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi, in a tweet.
Stating that the evacuation is in progress, the Ministry tweeted, “IAF special repatriation flight with 168 passengers on board, including 107 Indian nationals, is on its way to Delhi from Kabul”
Medical Aid for all Afghanistan Returnees
After the arrival of all 168 evacuees from Afghanistan, the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya informed that the Health Ministry has decided to vaccinate Afghanistan returnees with free Polio Vaccine – OPV & fIPV, as a preventive measure against Wild Polio Virus.
In fact, the passengers on the IAF repatriation flight were not immediately allowed to leave the aircraft and were instructed to undergo RTPCR tests at Hindon Air Force Station, Ghaziabad.
Grateful for the Aid!
Expressing great happiness over the aid provided by the government, one of the passengers repatriated from Afghanistan thanks India for helping them, says “Bharat sarkar zindabad!”
Some returnees also broke down, expressing sadness over the situation they had to leave Afghanistan and the looming situation in the country.
Two other flights reached India from Afghanistan’s Kabul earlier on Sunday, including a special Air India flight carrying 87 Indians. The Indians were taken to Tajikistan’s capital of Dushanbe from Kabul on board a transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Saturday.
The Indian embassy in Qatar in an official tweet informed that 135 Indians, who were evacuated from Kabul to Doha in the last few days, were also sent to India. The embassy shared pictures and videos of evacuees who were joyous for the relief flights from India.
The latest evacuations are part of the Indian government’s efforts to evacuate hundreds of Indian nationals to the country from Afghanistan, as the situation has deteriorated in Kabul following the rapid takeover of the Taliban.
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