87,055 Indians returned from Singapore as part of Vande Bharat flights since last year

Singapore: A total of 87,055 Indians have returned back home from Singapore since May last year as part of the Vande Bharat Mission repatriation flights, the Indian High Commission here has said. Among the reasons the Indians had to return home were job loss, family compulsion and death in family due to COVID -19 pandemic that has impacted the entire world since last year.

“From May last year to May 18, 629 Vande Bharat flights have ferried 87,055 passengers,” the Indian High Commission in Singapore said in a statement.

A separate joint statement by three different ministries of the Singapore government has said that on an average 180 Indians are flying back daily to India as part of the Vande Bharat Mission flights, Channel News Asia reported.

“There is an average of about 180 departing passengers on these flights back to India and about 25 arrivals to Singapore each day,” the report said, citing the statement issued by the Transport, Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Manpower Ministries.

Vande Bharat is a programme by the Indian government to repatriate Indian nationals from around the world amidst the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Singapore has so far reported 61,799 cases of coronavirus while the deaths caused due to it stands at 32, according to John Hopkins University.