Coronavirus: Pakistan repatriates more than 250 students stuck in Wuhan

ISLAMABAD: As many as 274 Pakistani students stuck in China’s Wuhan — the epicentre of coronavirus — were finally repatriated on Monday.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a tweet, said: “FS Sohail Mahmood senior MoFA officers extended warm welcome to Pakistan students returning home by [Pakistan international Airlines] PIA from Wuhan.”

“Appreciated their courage perseverance as Wuhan battled COVID[-]19 congratulated them on successful completion of studies,” it added.

“PIA’s special flight PIA8872 departed from Tianhe Airport Wuhan today to transport 274 returning Pakistani students from Wuhan and Hubei province to Islamabad,” Embassy in Beijing said in a statement.

The government had announced last week that special flights for the Pakistanis stranded in Wuhan would commence from May 18.

Earlier on Friday, the government said it had decided to offer subsidised tickets to students stranded in China for special repatriation flights starting from May 18.

The gesture is to thank Pakistani students for extending cooperation and showing patience during the pandemic outbreak.

Taking to Twitter, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfi Bukhari said that the Pakistani students in China have suffered a lot due to the outbreak. Therefore, the subsidised tickets for Rs50,000 are a gesture to thank them for their cooperation.

“Thankyou to everyone at PIA and foreign office for coming together to make this happen,” Bukhari wrote on Twitter.

Article source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/660620-coronavirus-pakistan-repatriates-more-than-250-students-stuck-in-wuhan