COVID-19: Two Air India flights from UAE carrying 354 Indian nationals take off

Two special flights from the UAE carrying a total of 354 Indian nationals left for Kerala on Thursday, as India began its biggest ever repatriation exercise to bring back its citizens stranded abroad amidst the international travel lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic.

The Air India Express flight IX452 carrying 177 passengers from Abu Dhabi to Kochi took off at 5.07 pm (local time). Few minutes later, the Dubai-Kozhikode flight took off at 5.46 pm (local time) as part of the repatriation exercise named 'Vande Bharat Mission.'

"#VandeBharatMission begins! The first flight with 177 passengers takes off from Abu Dhabi to Kochi. #TeamIndia will continue with its tireless efforts to bring Indians home," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava tweeted.

assengers started arriving at Abu Dhabi and Dubai airports as early as 9.30am on Thursday. Some of the passengers were carrying the Indian flags.

Indian Ambassador Pavan Kapoor was seen enquiring about the procedure ...