First batch of South Koreans flew out of India on Sunday
NEW DELHI. April 5. : As many as 221 Korean nationals including women and children boarded a chartered Korean Air flight from Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in New Delhi on Sunday, amidst lockdown in India to return to their country.
This is the first group of Korean nationals living in Delhi and NCR towns Gurugram and Noida who flew out of India ever since India was put under nationwide lockdown on March 25.
The Embassy of the Republic of Korea has sought permission for flying out its nationals from Chennai and Mumbai airports too the confirmation of which is all set to be made soon.
According to Euy Don Park, Chairman, Presidential Korean Association in India that represents about 15,000 Korean nationals, the majority of the Korean nationals who boarded the flights on Sunday were from Gurugram.
Also read: Evacuation of Foreigners begins from India amidst ban on Intl flights during lockdown
Four buses escorted by a car with ROK embassy of officials took off from Golf Course Road to IGI Airport along with necessary documents to ensure smooth and hinder-free travel from their homes to the airport as entire India is under lockdown till April 14, and there are restrictions imposed on people traveling from one place to another.
The police officials posted at the Delhi-Gurugram border on the Expressway let all the four buses enter New Delhi on Sunday afternoon after seeing the documents issued by the Embassy of ROK.
Foreigners of many nationalities living in India have already returned to countries like Japan, Germany, France, the UK, and Russia using special one-way flights permitted by the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) since March 24.
Even Air India has operated over two dozen flights for various countries to evacuate foreigners amidst lockdown as the number of Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases see a spike in India in the last few days.
“The ROK embassy has moved DGCA for special evacuation flights from Mumbai and Chennai too as there is a small group of Korean nationals in Maharashtra and Southern part of India that wants to leave,” Park told Asian Community News (ACN) Network.
