NEW DELHI: External affairs minister S

informed

on Friday that there are 80 Indian students remaining in

in China. Of them, 10 students who came to the airport were not allowed to board the special

flight by the Chinese authorities as they were running fever.

The remaining 70 have voluntarily stayed back but the Indian embassy in China is in touch with them and the Indian community in other parts of China. When members of the House asked if Pakistan had sought Indian help in evacuating its citizens from China, Jaishankar said: “Regarding Pakistan, at the time when our two flights were going, we had told all the students and the larger community in Wuhan that we were prepared not only to bring back our own people but all people in our neighbourhood who would like to come back.”

“This was an offer which was made to all our neighbours... seven students of Maldives chose the offer. But I would like members to know that offer was made to everybody,” Jaishankar said.

In view of the continuing lock down of the Hubei Province in China, the Indian government decided to evacuate the Indian students and other professionals working in Wuhan and neighbouring cities in the province. The House lauded the role of Air India, its crew, team of doctors, para medical staff and the two Indian embassy officials who coordinated and executed the challenging operation.