First Air India flight of 'Vande Bharat' mission from Dhaka departs for J-K with 167 medical students

First Air India flight of Vande Bharat Mission from Bangladesh capital Dhaka, carrying 167 stranded passengers who are all medical students, departed for Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar on Friday afternoon.

The people had registered online and the embassy later sent them tickets through e-mail.

"Under #VandeBharatMission, today first flight will take off from Dhaka to Srinagar, the passengers are students who study in medical colleges here. Total 7 flights will depart from Dhaka under the mission," said Riva Ganguly Das, Indian envoy to Bangladesh.

As coronavirus pandemic continues, the repatriation is being carried out under India's massive evacuation effort named 'Vande Bharat Mission', which began on Thursday.

Air India plans to operate 64 flights till May 13 to bring back around 15,000 Indian nationals stranded abroad amid the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

( With inputs from ANI )