KATHMANDU, JUNE 18

As per the working guidelines on rescuing vulnerable Nepalis who have been stranded in foreign lands due to the travel restrictions imposed by several governments in the fight against COVID-19, 413 Nepalis were rescued and brought home today. These stranded people arrived here on three chartered flights.

A meeting of the High-Level Coordination Committee for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19 had passed the working guideline on rescuing vulnerable Nepalis and decided to start bringing such citizens on priority basis as soon as possible on May 28, Narayan Prasad Bidari, member secretary of the committee, told The Himalayan Times.

While 117 Nepalis from Malaysia were evacuated via a chartered flight of Himalaya Airlines, a chartered flight of Jazeera Airways brought 150 Nepalis from Kuwait, as per Raj Kumar Chhetri, spokesperson for Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. Also, a chartered flight of SalamAir repatriated 146 stranded Nepalis from Oman.

Moreover, a cargo flight operated by Qatar Airways carrying one person also landed at Tribhuvan International Airport today afternoon. But the person is not a Nepali citizen.

As per Chhetri, NAC will fly to United Arab Emirates later tonight, while Himalaya Airlines will evacuate Nepalis from Saudi Arabia. Both the chartered flights will land at TIA on Friday morning.

The national flag carrier will also fly to Japan and Kuwait, while Himalaya Airlines will fly to Saudi Arabia and Nigeria on June 19.

On June 20, NAC will repatriate Nepalis from Cyprus, Malaysia and Qatar, while Himalaya Airlines will repatriate passengers from the UAE and Bangladesh. Foreign airline companies will also conduct two flights that day, of which one will be from Europe.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on June 19, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.