- The largest plane of the Indian Air Force C-17 Globemaster was scheduled for flying to Wuhan city of China on February 20, 2020, for evacuating Indians.
- China delaying the flight that tend to evacuate Indians on purpose
China is delaying grant of clearance to the proposal of India for sending an Indian Air Force flight for carrying relief material for people affected by deadly corona virus in China and bringing them from its city of Wuhan. India was supposed to send a C-17 military transport aircraft to Wuhan city of China, the epicentre of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, on February 20, but permission was not granted for the flight and hence the plane could not take off.
According to a high-level source, “China is intentionally delaying grant of clearance of the flight to evacuate Indians.”
The aircraft tend to carry a huge amount of consignment of medical supplies to Wuhan and bring back more Indians from Wuhan. However, the sources stated that the e Chinese side continued to maintain that there was no delay in granting permission for the flight to go (even on February 21, 2020), however, “inexplicably” the clearance has not been given.
The Air India has already evacuated about 640 Indians from Wuhan in two separate flights. According to an estimation, more than 100 Indians are still living in the epicenter of coronavirus.
A significant number of countries have already evacuated their people from China and restricted movement of people and goods to and from China due to the massive outbreak of coronavirus there.
Indians in Wuhan continue their long wait for the flight. This delay of flight is causing tremendous mental anguish to Indians in Wuhan and their family members in India. They claimed that the relief and evacuation flights from other countries such as by France are allowed to operate by China however, in India’s case, the permission has not come through.
Meanwhile, the death toll in China reached 2,345 with 109 more deaths reported, while the confirmed cases rose to 76,288. A total of 397 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported on February 21, 2020, while 109 deaths were reported from 31 provincial-level regions, Chinese health authority said on February 22, 2020.
