Australia, over the weekend, began to airlift its citizens who were stranded in India because of the ongoing lockdown to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first flight took off from here in the early hours of Sunday as part of Canberra's efforts to bring back nationals stuck in various affected parts of the world.
"Supported the repatriation of 444 people who just took off on charter flight JT2846 from Delhi for Melbourne. The flight was organised by a group of Australians led by Simon Quinn," a social media message from the High Commission of Australia informed. A diplomatic source said that apart from 430 Australians, the aircraft carried 14 citizens of New Zealand. New Delhi resident Mr. Quinn had carried out a social media campaign to help the Australian nationals after the Indian lockdown began on March 24.
Sunday's move marks the beginning of a series of charter flights that the government of Australia is expected to operate in the coming days to evacuate a large number of nationals from India. It is known that at least 6,000 Australians have registered with the consular teams of the country seeking food, medicines and transportation during the lockdown.
Australia began the phase of airlift five days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a telephonic conversation with Scott Morrison, his counterpart from Canberra when the Indian leader assured Mr. Morrison of "necessary facilitation and support to any Australian citizens stranded in India due to travel restrictions".
Apart from the operation from India, Australia also evacuated 63 citizens from Nepal who were stranded there as the Himalayan country went into a lockdown simultaneously with India to counter the threat of COVID-19. Foreign Minister Marise Payne thanked the governments of Nepal and Canada for assisting with the evacuation attempt.
