Media Release
Mangaluru, Jun 21: Karnataka Sports and Cultural Club (KSCC), an entity registered with Community Development Authority, UAE and government of Dubai, UAE, has become the first sports and cultural club to arrange a charter flight to repatriate stranded Kannadigas in the UAE. The flight landed at Mangaluru International Airport at 11 am on Sunday June 21.
The Air Arabia flight with 173 passengers took off from Sharjah International Airport around 6 am (UAE time). The flight had 29 pregnant women, 16 children, five infants, senior citizens, people with medical emergencies, people who have lost jobs, stranded visit visa holders and those who had reported deaths in their families.
KSCC manager Shafi said that all the legal procedures were carried out smoothly. The charter flight was arranged only for stranded Kannadigas.
KSCC had set up a help desk to finalize the list of passengers, given discounted ticket fares for needy passengers who could afford the full repatriation cost, and free PPE kits and snacks to all the passengers.
Rapid tests for coronavirus were conducted before departure and mandatory quarantine for all the passengers was arranged according to protocol in three hotels in Mangaluru for a period of seven days.
KSCC officials Shafi, Althaf, Javed, Naseer and volunteers were present at the airport at the time of departure to assist the passengers.
KSCC expressed gratitude to consulate general, deputy commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district Sindhu B Rupesh, Umar U H, and Ataullah Jokkate for their support in making this happen.