ISLAMABAD: As many as 274 Pakistani students stuck in China’s Wuhan the epicenter of COVID-19 were repatriated.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a tweet, said: “FS Sohail Mahmood & senior MoFA officers extended a warm welcome to Pakistan students returning home by [Pakistan international Airlines] PIA from Wuhan.”
FS Sohail Mahmood & senior MoFA officers extended warm welcome to ????????students returning home by @Official_PIA from #Wuhan
Appreciated their courage & perseverance as Wuhan battled #COVID19 & congratulated them on successful completion of studies. #LongLivePakistanChinaFriendship pic.twitter.com/LrR7VOfuMd
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan (@ForeignOfficePk) May 18, 2020
“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.
On Friday, the government said it had decided to offer subsidized 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.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfi Bukhari said in a Twitter post-Pakistani students in China have suffered a lot due to the outbreak. Therefore, the subsidized tickets for Rs50,000 are a gesture to thank them for their cooperation.
“Thank you to everyone at PIA and foreign office for coming together to make this happen,” Bukhari wrote on Twitter.
As a spcl gesture for ???????? students in Wuhan for their patience during #Covid as they’ve suffered most, we‘re offering subsidised tickets at Rs.50k for spcl repatriation flt on 18May.
Thankyou to everyone at @Official_PIA & @ForeignOfficePk for coming together to make this happen— Sayed Z Bukhari (@sayedzbukhari) May 15, 2020
