COVID-19: 167 medical students stuck in Bangladesh amid lockdown return to Kashmir

The long wait has finally ended for the Kashmiri medical students stranded in Bangladesh after the lockdown was imposed in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

The Air India flight with 167 medical students from Dhaka has landed in Srinagar. Divisional Commissioner PK Pole said that the "returning students are being screened at the airport and samples are collected there."

"They will be moved to a quarantine facility till the test reports come in which will take two days," he said.

Government Spokesperson Rohit Kansal told IANS that all of them will be tested and any positive cases will go to the hospital and the negative to home quarantine.

The Kashmiri students, who were stuck in Bangladesh, had been repeatedly making pleas for bringing them back home by posting video messages on social media. Before boarding the flight students expressed gratitude to the Government of India for evacuating them.

"I am thankful to the Indian High Commission and the first secretary who has been helping us throughout, thank you so much for the evacuation, we are happy to reach our homes," Hadiya Rashid medical student said. "Our college and embassy continuously helped us and we are all very thankful to them."

"I am from Kashmir and we have been evacuated from Bangladesh to Srinagar on a direct flight, I am thankful to our Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking this enormous step," said Ausaf Majeed, Medical Student.

"Till now we are facing no problems here, the arrangements are very nice, we are the first batch of students leaving from Bangladesh, we are very happy and thankful to the Government of India," Majeed said.