Vande Bharat Mission: 244 passengers from Washington DC on their way to Delhi

Under the Vande Bharat Mission, a special Air India flight carrying 244 passengers from Washington DC left for New Delhi on Wednesday. After landing in the national capital the flight is slated to fly to Hyderabad.

"This is the fourth flight to depart from the US, we will have 3 more flights in the 1st phase. We are expecting 2nd phase to begin in which there will be 7 flights & thereafter we'll see what is the requirement. Till date, we have the request of almost 28,000 people," Taranjit Singh Sandhu, India's Ambassador to the United States tweeted.

There were several other flights that brought back Indian nationals under India's largest-ever repatriation initiative amid the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

As many as 234 passengers were brought back to Indore from Kuwait. These passengers were brought in two aircraft of Kuwait Airlines with 117 passengers each on one plane.

Another Air India special flight touched down at Amritsar International Airport from Dubai with 178 passengers.

Moreover, a passenger flight carrying 177 people from Kuwait landed at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad. The flight reached Ahmedabad via Mumbai.

A total of 2574 more Indians have returned to the country on 12 flights from eight different places, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said in a tweet on Wednesday evening.

India began phased repatriation of its citizens stranded abroad from May 7 under Vande Bharat Mission. The government announced it will bring back 14,800 Indians on 64 flights.

The second phase of Vande Bharat Mission will be launched from May 16-22 during which 149 flights, including feeder flights, will be operated to bring back Indians from 31 countries.

( With inputs from ANI )