Special Sri Lankan airlines flight evacuates 101 students stranded in Punjab

A special Sri Lankan airlines flight on Thursday evacuated 101 students who were stranded in Punjab due to the COVID-19 lockdown.

"101 Sri Lankan Flag of Sri Lanka Nationals evacuated by a special Sri Lankan airlines flight. The plane landed at Amritsar International Airport this morning and has already taken off for Colombo. All the passengers were students of Lovely Professional University," KBS Sidhu, Special Chief Secretary, Punjab, tweeted.

The flight with eight crew members, including two pilots, is scheduled to arrive in Katunayake at 2.55 p.m. today (local time).

Two more special flights from Sri Lanka will arrive in India to evacuate 117 other Sri Lankans from Coimbatore and 93 more from Katmandu.

The Centre, last month, had announced a suspension of flight services, domestic as well as international carriers, till May 3 to stem the surging cases of coronavirus infection. The move has left thousands of foreigners stranded across various parts of the country.

On April 14, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of COVID-19 lockdown till May 3.

India's total number of coronavirus positive cases has risen to 21,393, including 16,454 active cases, 4,257 cured/discharged/migrated and 681 deaths.

( With inputs from ANI )