200 locals from 9 Indian cities to be repatriated next week

The Foreign Ministry has announced that a repatriation flight have been arranged for 200 Maldivians in nine different Indian cities within the next week.

A Maldivian flight will operate to the nine cities to repatriate the 200 locals.

The nine cities where locals are to be repatriated from are:

• New Delhi
• Trivandrum
• Kochi
• Chennai
• Gurgaon
• Calcutta
• Punjab
• Rishikesh
• Vellore

Tickets are to be purchased personally and will be conducted by Maldivian. Locals in these nine cities are to travel to Trivandrum and New Delhi to reach the flight. The flight will travel from Male’-Delhi-Trivandrum-Male’.

The Maldivian High Commission in India and the Consulate in Trivandrum will assist locals with travel arrangements to the cities where the flight lands.

Those returning include locals who were left stranded due to the travel restrictions of COVID-19 after traveling for medical purposes, locals in distant locations from airports and were unable to reach repatriation flights held previously as well as locals in India with a short-term visa, says the Foreign Ministry.

More repatriation flights are still being planned.

There are still a large number of Maldivians stranded in countries due to the travel restrictions of COVID-19.