Headlines
Another IAF plane returns with 237 passengers to Delhi
New Delhi, April 26
Another Indian Air Force
plane brought 237 Indians back to New Delhi from Kathmandu on Sunday
afternoon, taking to 783 the total of passengers evacuated from the
quake-hit Nepal since the first plane landed late Saturday night.
"A
C-17 Globemaster III of Indian Aor Force landed at Palam at 04.45 p.m.
from Kathmandu with 237 passengers on board," said defence ministry
spokesperson Sitanshu Kar. Prior to that, 546 Indians wereflown back
home.
The first IAF plane to arrive here from the Nepalese
capital was a C-130J Super Hercules with 55 passengers, including four
infants, on board around 10.45 p.m. on Saturday, followed by a C-17
Globemaster III, a little after midnight with 101 passengers and an
infant.
In the early hours of Sunday, an IL-76 aircraft brought
back 152 passengers, and around 4.45 a.m., another C-17 Globemaster III
returned with 247 Indians. The movement had to be suspended between 1:30
pm and 3:00 p.m. due to fresh tremors in Nepal.
At 4:45 p.m., the latest plane landed with 237 Indian civilians.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said the IAF will bring back a total of 1,500 Indians stranded in earthquake-hit Nepal.
"We
brought back around 500 people yesterday (Saturday) and today (Sunday).
We will evacuate 1,500 Indians from Nepal," Parrikar told reporters on
the margins of a defence investiture ceremony here.
Over 2,130
people were killed and thousands were injured when a devastating
earthquake and several strong aftershocks caused widespread destruction
in Nepal. India was also affected.
The quake measured 7.9 on the
Richter scale. The epicentre was Nepal's Lamjung district, some 75 km
northwest of capital Kathmandu. Over 50 aftershocks were also felt.