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NEW DELHI, Aug 9: In the aftermath of the Air India Express plane crash that killed 18 people, Union Civil Aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Sunday said the Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) for evacuating stranded Indians across the globe amid the pandemic will continue with the "same undaunted spirit".
In a series of tweets, he paid tribute to the people who lost their lives in the tragedy and also applauded the "solidarity and brotherhood" shown by the people of Kozhikode who took personal risks in providing immediate relief and help to the victims. Their immediate support helped in averting a greater tragedy, he added.
"Deeply pained at the loss of lives on Flight IX-1344 operating under Vande Bharat, a mission which has otherwise been incident-free & facilitated repatriation of more than 973K stranded citizens through various modes," Puri said in a tweet. He also hailed the "undaunted spirit" of the aviation professionals and people of Kerala as despite the accident, operations from the airport recommenced with two Air India Express flights landing on Saturday morning.
"VBM will continue with the same undaunted spirit. We will continue to bring back our stranded citizens from wherever in the world they are. I join the people of the state & every Indian in paying tribute to the 18 people who lost their lives in this air tragedy," he said in another tweet.
On Friday night Air India Express AXB1344, a B-737 aircraft, with 190 people onboard, landed on runway 10 of the Kozhikode airport amid visibility of 2,000 metres in heavy rain, but overshot and nosedived into the valley and broke into two pieces. (IANS)
Also Read: Breakfast News | 10 Aug, 2020