276 stranded sailors return home

NT NETWORK

Vasco

A special repatriation flight from Rome in Italy brought 276 stranded Indian seafarers to Goa in the wee hours of Friday.

According to sources at the Dabolim airport, most of the sailors, who arrived at the airport by the ‘Alitalia’ repatriation flight, are Goans, while some hail from Maharashtra.

On their arrival, the health authorities conducted all the necessary checks of the sailors including collection of throat swab samples following which they were sent to quarantine centres.

Airport director Gagan Malik said only one repatriation flight arrived at the airport on Friday. “The AAI had a schedule of two repatriation flights coming to Goa on Friday; the second flight was from Colombo in Sri Lanka. However, only one flight landed. The repatriation flight from Colombo was cancelled at the last moment and the reason is not known,” Malik said.

Meanwhile, the entry into Goa of seafarers, who were supposed to arrive at the Mormugao harbour by cruise liners on May 30 and in the first week of June, has been delayed. The cruise liners are now expected to arrive at the harbour only after June 10 and the detailed schedule of the cruise liners would be known from the ship handling agents, said a top official of Mormugao Port Trust.

The Dabolim airport, meanwhile, handled 332 passengers, who arrived and departed by three domestic flights on Friday. A total of 87 passengers landed at Dabolim, while 245 passengers departed for other destinations.

Indigo flight (6E 345) from Bengaluru brought in 34 passengers, while on its return journey, it flew with 48 passengers. Another Indigo flight (6E 367), which came from New Delhi brought in 43 passengers to Goa and on its return, carried 133 passengers.

The third flight AirAsia (I5 1334) arrived from Bengaluru with ten passengers. This is the lowest number of passengers in a flight in the last four days after the domestic airlines started operating at the Dabolim airport. The AirAsia flight departed with 64 passengers including three infants on its return journey.