WISMA Putra has sent a chartered flight to Iran today to bring back 55 people, including 46 Malaysians, who are stranded there in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Deputy Foreign Minister Kamarudin Jaffar said the AirAsia flight with 15 crew members and eight officials (five from the Health Ministry, two from the Foreign Ministry and one from the National Disaster Management Agency) departed today at 11.45am and will return tomorrow at 6.10am.

“All of them are expected to arrive tomorrow, March 22, at 6.10am. They will be flying in a chartered AirAsia flight that left for Tehran at 11.45am today,” he said in a Facebook live press conference.

Kamarudin said the other nine passengers are from Singapore (8) and Indonesia (1).

He said the decision to bring back the additional passengers was made after Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein discussed with his Singapore and Indonesian counterparts.

“Our minister (Hishammuddin) had a video conference with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi yesterday and spoke to Singapore’s Foreign Affairs Ministers Vivian Balakrishnan on March 11, 2020 about this issue.

“In celebrating the spirit of Asean cooperation, Malaysia agreed to help bring back eight Singaporeans and one Indonesian from Iran together with other Malaysians,” Kamarudin said today.

Iran is one of the worst hit countries from the virus, with more than 1,200 deaths.

Kamarudin also said there are 1,519 Malaysians stranded in India as of today.

He said Hishammuddin and MIC president S. A. Vigneswaran held a discussion recently and later struck a deal with AirAsia to charter six flights that will bring 1,116 Malaysians back home.

They will be brought back from Chennai and Tiruchirappalli.

“Also, the cost of the flights, amounting to RM1.05 million will be borne by MIC,” he said at the press conference, which was also attended by Human Resource Minister and MIC deputy president M. Saravanan.

Earlier, Vigneswaran told The Malaysian Insight that the party volunteered to charter flights to repatriate the stranded Malaysians.

Vigneswaran said the move to charter six AirAsia flights for RM1.05 million was a humanitarian effort.

Kamarudin also added that his ministry is working closely with the Transport Ministry, Malaysia Airport Holdings Bhd (MAHB) and Malaysia Airlines (MAS) to bring back the remaining stranded Malaysians from Chennai and Mumbai.

“The Malaysian High Commission in New Delhi is working to obtain landing approval for the two MAS flights from the Indian government,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kamarudin said attempts to repatriate Malaysians from Italy were dealt with a last minute blow when the Malaysian embassy in Rome informed that the Italian Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC) had revoked landing approval for all flights.

“The initial plan was to get 82 Malaysians registered with the Malaysian embassy in Rome home. They have been expected to arrive in Kuala Lumpur on March 23 (Monday) at 6.10am.

“However, the ministry was informed by its embassy in Rome that the ENAC revoked landing approval for all flights, including the charter flight that was supposed to bring them back from Italy,” he said.

Kamarudin said the ministry is still requesting for a special approval from the Italian government to conduct its repatriation process.

Finally, he said all those repatriated will undergo a 14-day quarantine period at the designated public training institutes that have been identified.

He said the quarantine process is important as it will allow medical personnel to observe their health condition and give necessary medical assistance if required. – March 21, 2020.