Vande Bharat Mission flight with 148 Indians departs from Riyadh

A special flight under the Vande Bharat Mission with 148 passengers on board departed from Riyadh for Hyderabad on Sunday.

"Air India AI 1936 bound for Hyderabad has departed from King Khalid International Airport Riyadh with 148 passengers, including 3 infants on board," Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia tweeted.

India had launched the largest evacuation exercise -- Vande Bharat Mission -- to repatriate Indians stranded abroad due to coronavirus-induced lockdown.

The exercise began on May 7 and its second phase started on May 16.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had recently announced that the second phase of the mission has been extended to June 13.

More than 47,000 people have now returned to India under Mission Vande Bharat so far, said Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

( With inputs from ANI )