Coronavirus outbreak: Tamil Nadu residents stranded in foreign countries return

Chennai, May 09: About 359 people arrived in Tamil Nadu early on Saturday from Dubai in two Air India flights as part of the government's Vande Bharat Mission to bring home Indian nationals stranded in various countries.

Among the passengers was a Tirunelveli-based woman whose husband died in Dubai. The body was also brought in the aircraft.

According to the death certificate issued by the Consulate General of India, the 36-year-old man died of "cardiac and breath function failure." Upon arrival at the airport, the woman headed to Sengottai in the southern district in an ambulance carrying her spouse's remains.

While the first flight saw arrival of 182 people, 151 men, 28 women and three children, there were 177 people in the second aircraft and the flights arrived in the wee hours of today.

The stranded people hail from Tamil Nadu and they were working in the United Arab Emirates. On Friday night, a flight from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia arrived at Tiruchirappalli airport with about 200 passengers. On their arrival, nasal and throat swab samples were taken for coronavirus testing at the specially set up COVID-19 kiosks in the airport.

Authorities deputed several teams of health workers attired in protective suits to screen and take samples from the returnees. While one group of people were lodged in the premises of an educational institution in suburban Melakottayur, two other groups of men and women got accommodated in two hotels at Periyamet and Ekkaduthangal, respectively.