MUSCAT: Indian Embassy in Oman has urged its citizens who wish to return home in the wake of coronavirus outbreak to stay patient as more repatriation flights will be operated in the coming weeks.

Speaking to The Arabian Stories, a senior embassy official said the response to the Vande Bharat Mission has been overwhelming. “The second phase took home almost 2,300 stranded Indians from Oman. We are receiving phone calls from so many people who wish to return home but all we ask them is to stay patient as we are trying our best to accommodate everyone,” the official said.

On Sunday, the embassy announced that it will operate 15 flights in the second-leg of phase two that is scheduled to begin from May 28. 10 flights will operate from Oman to Kerala while the remaining five will operate to Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha and Chennai. Three flights will be operating from Salalah.

“More flights will be operated in subsequent phases covering multiple destinations. We are trying our best to add as many as destinations depending on the demand,” he added.

Embassy will be contacting the short-listed people for each flight directly through email/telephone. The cost of tickets will have to be borne by the passengers themselves and air tickets will be issued by the airline only to the short listed persons.