Odisha youth among 119 Indians stuck in coronavirus-hit Japan ship land in Delhi

Bhubaneswar: Odia engineer Shivasis Nayak , who was among 119 Indians stranded on board Diamond Princess cruise ship off Japan coast due to novel Coronavirus, returned to India on Thursday morning.

An Air India flight carrying 119 Indians and five foreign nationals from Sri Lanka, Nepal, South Africa and Peru, who were quarantined on board the coronavirus-hit Japan cruise ship Diamond Princess, landed in Delhi airport from Tokyo this morning.

They will be kept under quarantine at the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) facility in Manesar near Gurgaon.

Shivasis , a resident of Berhampur in Odisha, was  a crew member of the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

The External Affairs Minister had earlier described the consignment of relief material as a strong expression of India’s solidarity with the Chinese people in their “difficult time”.

“Air India flight has just landed in Delhi from Tokyo, carrying 119 Indians & 5 nationals from Sri Lanka, Nepal, South Africa and Peru who were quarantined onboard the Diamond Princess due to COVID19. Appreciate the facilitation of Japanese authorities. Thank you Air India once again,” Jaishankar tweeted.

A total of 138 Indians, including 132 crew and six passengers, were among the 3,711 people, on board the Diamond Princess ship when it docked at the Yokohama port, near Tokyo, on February 3.