30 Indians barred from AI flight to China

BEIJING:CHINA did not allow nearly 30 Indians, including families of diplomats, from taking a special Air India flight from New Delhi to Guangzhou early on Monday because two Indians tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on a Shanghai-bound special flight that landed on June 21, according to the Shanghai health commission.

After the two Indians were diagnosed with Covid-19, Chinese authorities gave permission only for an empty flight from India to land in the southern city of Guangzhou to repatriate Indians on Monday.

Indian officials confirmed that the flight was empty, but did not comment on the matter.

On its way back, the special Air India flight took off from Guangzhou on Monday noon with 86 Indians under the third phase of the “Vande Bharat Mission”, a repatriation programme for Indian citizens stranded abroad due to travel restrictions amid the pandemic. The June 21 Shanghai flight was also part of the repatriation mission and it carried 186 Indians back to the country.

Hindustan Times reached out to the Chinese foreign ministry for a clarification why the Indian diplomats’ families were not allowed back in China, a development that comes amid tensions between the two countries following a deadly clash at the Line of Actual Control. The Chinese foreign ministry responded without referring to the ongoing border tensions. “Recently, China has assisted in arranging the return of some Indian diplomats and their families to China,’’ the Chinese foreign ministry said in a written statement in Mandarin. “In view of the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 on the temporary flight, China and India agreed in advance that the temporary flight arriving in Guangzhou on June 29 would not carry passengers,” it added.

More than 100 Indians were on the June 21 flight. The Shanghai Health Commission (SHC) confirmed the cases of three foreigners — one from the US and two Indians — testing positive in flights that landed on June 21.