Taiwanese and foreigners evacuated from India, Bangladesh to Taiwan

台灣和外國人從印度、孟加拉撤離到台灣

129 passengers evacuated to Taiwan, some 60 Taiwanese remain in India


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A total of 129 Taiwanese and foreigners were evacuated to Taiwan on Monday evening (May 4) on a charter flight that departed from India, which remains under lockdown due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Upon arrival, all passengers were sent to collective quarantine sites where they will spend the following two weeks according to the government’s disease prevention policy. Among them, nine reported having had coughing in the past 14 days during immigration clearance and they were immediately tested for the virus.

The flight, operated by China Airlines, departed from New Delhi on Monday evening and landed in Taiwan on Tuesday (May 5) at around 4 a.m., carrying 129 passengers, including 15 foreigners and one infant. Most of the passengers are Taiwanese living in India and Bangladesh.

Dozens of the passengers made the long journey to the Indian capital to board the flight, including one postgraduate student who had traveled across six provinces from the southeastern region, spending approximately 40 hours in a chartered car.

A female company manager surnamed Tseng, told the CNA that she had traveled across four provinces over two days in a chartered car arranged by the Taiwanese Representative Office in India. “The desire to go home prevails the fear,” she said, reflecting on the risk of traveling alone with a driver in India.

Some 60 Taiwanese have chosen to remain in India for various reasons. There were also 28 Taiwanese stranded in the Maldives unable to take the flight in New Delhi.

These stranded Taiwanese, mostly young adults working in the small island nation, have reportedly accused the Taiwanese authorities of not offering enough assistance to help them evacuate. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) denied such accusations, saying that its representative offices in the region have been providing them aid since March.

MOFA said the stranded Taiwanese could not agree on the expenses required of each of them for the evacuation trip, which was roughly NT$53,000 (US$1,763). The Maldives has been under lockdown since mid-April due to the spread of the coronavirus and the country has more than 500 confirmed cases as of Tuesday.

The charter flight on Monday was rented by the World Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce with the assistance of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office India and Indian authorities, according to MOFA. About 100 Taiwanese were also evacuated from New Delhi and Mumbai last month via flights arranged by the South Korean and Japanese governments, and they later returned home on their own through connecting flights.