india.com : Aug 08, 2020, 05:10 PM
New Delhi: ‘Vande Bharat mission will continue’, said Civil Aviation Ministry, a day after an Air India Express flight with 190 people on board overshot ‘runway 10’ at the Calicut airport, killing at least 19 passengers. “Vande Bharat Mission flights have no problem, the mission will continue”, news agency ANI quoted the aviation ministry as saying.The Air India Express flight No IX-334 that crash-landed at Kozhikode Airport on Friday evening was part of the Vande Bharat Mission. Notably, India has been undertaking one of the world’s largest repatriation operations from May 7. Nearly 9.5 lakh Indians stranded abroad have returned under Vande Bharat Mission so far. At present, India is in phase five of the mission.In the wake of COVID-10, scheduled international passenger flights have been suspended in India since mid-March. However, special international charter flights have been operating under the Vande Bharat Mission since May 6 to help stranded people reach their destinations.