Colombo says no to flight from Chennai, 118 return home

Chennai

Sources said the SpiceJet flight was scheduled to depart from the Chennai airport with 118 passengers. All of the passengers were Indians and are working in a private ship company in the island nation. After getting special permission from the Central government the flight was arranged to Colombo on Sunday.

Before the passengers could board the flight, the officials announced the cancellation of the flight. “Colombo airport, when contacted for permission to land there, refused the same citing lack of proper facilities for testing all the passengers,” said the source, adding that following the information flight was announced as cancelled and the passengers were sent back home.

316 Indians back from Qatar and Singapore
As many as 316 Indians returned from Singapore and Qatar on two special flights in the wee hours of Monday.

Sources said the first flight landed in Chennai at 1.15 am with 175 Indians from Singapore. All the passengers were asked to keep social distancing and after completing the COVID-19 swab test along with the Customs and immigration checkup were guided to the exit, from where they boarded the special vehicles to the quarantine camps.

The second flight landed in Chennai at 3.30 am with 141 passengers from Qatar. All the passengers, after completing the routine checkup, was guided to the exit and taken to quarantine camps.

Of the 316 passengers who reached Chennai from Singapore and Qatar, 167 passengers decided to stay in the free quarantine camp at the VIT College in Melakotaiyur while rest of them were taken to various hotels in Chennai.