Coronavirus outbreak: Air India rescues passengers on board quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess
An Air India flight rescued 119 Indians and five nationals from Sri Lanka, Nepal, South Africa and Peru, who were on board the coronavirus affected quarantined cruise ship, Diamond Princess. The special landed in Delhi on Thursday morning.
India thanked Japanese authorities for facilitating the evacuation of people.
External Affairs Minister Jaishankar took to Twitter and said: "Air India flight has just landed in Delhi from Tokyo, carrying 119 Indians and 5 nationals from Sri Lanka, Nepal, South Africa and Peru who were quarantined onboard the Diamond Princess due to COVID 19. Appreciate the facilitation of Japanese authorities. Thank you @airindiain once again."
As many as 138 Indians including 132 crew and six passengers were among the 3711 people on board the luxury cruise ship, which was quarantined off Japan on February 5 after it emerged that a former passenger had tested positive for the virus.
Of these, 16 were tested positive for coronavirus and will stay in Japan for treatment, while the remaining will be repatriated to India.
The repatriation is being facilitated by the Indian government.
Coronavirus has infected more than 80,000 people in 37 countries, causing more than 2600 deaths in the past few months.
(With inputs from ANI)
