Bhubaneswar: As many as 26 Bhutanese nationals stranded in Bhubaneswar following the COVID-19 lockdown were flown back to their country in a special flight on Thursday.
The flight, Druk Air KB293, departed from Biju Patnaik International Airport here at 2 pm. It operate from Bengaluru to Paro via Bhubaneswar.
The plane will pick up several other citizens of Bhutan stranded in some other parts of India, reports said.
A NIT-Rourkela student told the media that he was excited to go back home, but equally scared about the present scenario. “We will be safe at home as the number of corona cases is very less in Bhutan, while it is continuing to rise in India. Our embassy communicated with us and facilitated our evacuation,” he said.
Bhutan has so far reported seven COVID-19 cases and three among them have recovered from the disease. As on April 23, corona cases in India had spiked to 21,393,. While 4,376 people have been fully cured, the toll stands at 681.
A student of SOA Deemed to be University said that she was concerned about loss of studies if the varsity opens after the lockdown period ends.
On March 28, 140 Bhutanese nationals comprising mostly students were evacuated in a special flight of the Royal Bhutan Airlines from Chandigarh.
On April 9, 41 students from Gautam Budh Nagar in Noida were flown in a Druk Air flight from Delhi to Paro.
Bhutan had sealed its border with India last month to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus. India is under lockdown till May 3 and suspended all its flights.
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