Stranded in South Korea, over two hundred Indians including mariners await return to their homeland

On Thursday, Indian ambassador in ROK Sripriya Ranganathan met the representatives of Indian community to discuss plans to move stranded Indians. Add caption

Over two hundred Indians including 64 mariners stuck in South Korea for the last two months are a desperate and distressed lot as after having found the name of South Korea missing from the first two lists of nations India is sending flights and ships to, to rescue stranded Indians across the world under Vande Bharat Mission, the biggest ever repatriation drive.

Many of these Indians have lost their jobs while some have medical exigencies back home in India. They have taken to the social media sites and microblogging sites to voice their concern and share their plight with the officials of the Indian embassy in Seoul.

On May 7, India launched Vande Bharat Mission, Phase 1 in which India flew 64 Air India and two Air India Express flights and sent Naval ships mainly to middle east countries to bring back 14,800 stranded Indians who were stuck there due to lockdown announced in India since March 25.  South Korea did not mention in this list.

On May 13, Indian aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri announced another list of nations to operate 149 Air India flights to repatriate 30,000 Indians from 31 countries between May 12 and 22. The name of South Korea was missing in that list too. Read more...