KATHMANDU: An Air Arabia flight carrying 168 Nepalis from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has landed in Kathmandu on Friday. The dead body of a Nepali national has also been brought through the flight.

The aircraft landed at Tribhuvan International Airport at 5:45 pm today.

They are being taken from the airport to a holding center set up in the Kathmandu Valley.

From the holding center, they will be sent to the quarantine prepared according to the province. They will be sent home after staying 14-day in quarantine.

Those who arrived today are not as per the list prepared by the Nepali Embassy to UAE.

Nepal’s embassy in UAE had prepared the list of the people to be brought home as per the priority criteria set by the Nepal government. However, citing technical reasons, they are still held in the UAE.

A COVID-19 Crisis Management Center (CCMC) source informed that due to the flight-charge dispute, there were some complications in the last hour.

Amid the confusion led the unexpected complications, two companies had agreed to send their workers back Nepal in coordination with the airline company.

67 people working in Ejadah Facility Management, 79 people from Trans Guard Security Company and other 11 Nepalis returned home in today’s flight. They got their boarding pass at 10.45 am Nepali time.
According to embassy sources, 18,000 Nepalis have applied to return home.

The government has planned to bring them to Kathmandu and sent them to province wise quarantine centers for 14 days prior to sending them home.

26 Nepalis stranded in Myanmar have been rescued on Friday. They were brought Kathmandu via a special plane of Myanmar’s army.

Immediately, after arrival in Nepal, they are sent to Kirtipur based holding center.