Mumbai/New Delhi: 44 Indians evacuated from the coronavirus-affected country arrived on Friday afternoon in a special Iran Air flight IR-810.
To avoid any contact with other passengers or flights, the passengers along with 17 crew members and the aircraft was parked for a few hours at an isolated area at Mumbai airport. All passengers and crew underwent the screening at the isolation bay.
All the team were transferred by bus to the Indian Navy's facility in Ghatkopar, for a compulsory 14-day quarantine period.
Maharashtra with at least 17 positive cases so far has implemented stringent restrictions to avoid further spread of coronavirus in the state with a 12-crore population.
An earlier report had stated that all the passengers have tested negative, but would be quarantined as per the existing health protocol for coronavirus.
Informing of the developments, Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar tweeted that the second batch of Indian pilgrims arrived in India on Friday from Iran.
Jaishankar praised the efforts of the medical team of the Indian embassy in Iran and Iranian authorities involved in the evacuation operation.
After Wuhan, Italy and Iran witnessed the worst outbreak of coronavirus. Many Indians, including students, pilgrims and fishermen, have been stranded in Iran amid the outbreak.
