Vande Bharat Mission: Special flight with 168 Indians departs from Kazakhstan

A special Air India flight under Vande Bharat Mission took off from Nur-Sultan with 168 stranded Indians for New Delhi on Saturday.

"Air India special flight AI1918 carrying 168 Indian nationals took off from Nur-Sultan at 1443 hours (LT) for Delhi under Vande Bharat Mission," Indian Embassy in Kazakhstan said.

As many as 2,50,087 Indian nationals stranded abroad have been repatriated since the beginning of Vande Bharat Mission last month, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.

The Vande Bharat Mission, which started from May 7 to evacuate Indians stranded abroad due to coronavirus pandemic, is in its third phase. The recent phase commenced on June 11.

Under the third phase, India would have 550 flights including 191 feeder flights.

( With inputs from ANI )