New Delhi: Three Keralites are among the 68 Air India crew who won the nation's accolades for successfully completing the mission to bring back about 650 Indians stranded in China's Wuhan, the epicentre of novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). The crew received an appreciation letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The three Keralites in the team are Air India air hostess Sreelatha Nair, security manager Devadas Pillai, and inflight manager P N Muraleedharan.

All the crew that were part of the two flights received a letter signed by the PM on Monday. The letters were handed over personally by Union Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri at a function in New Delhi.

Sreelatha Nair, a native of Mavelikara in Alappuzha district, and Muraleedharan of Kochi had taken part in the earlier special missions of the Air India, including the rescue operations from the strife-torn Libya in 2011 and during Gulf War in 1990.

The families of the crew were apprehensive about the mission, but they carried out their duties exhibiting exemplary professionalism,

Sreelatha, who was on leave, was asked to report on duty urgently. Devadas, a native of Alappuzha, was picked for the mission for his expertise on carrying out security duties.

Sreelatha and Muraleedharan were part of the cabin crew, but Devdas being a security officer had to go off the parked airline and enter the Wuhan terminal.

The first flight of the airline had reached New Delhi late last month with 324 Indians. The group comprised 234 men and 90 women. As many as 42 persons from Kerala, 56 from Andhra and 53 from Tamil Nadu were part of this group, PTI had reported.

In the second Air India flight early this month another 323 Indians stranded in Wuhan were brought back. The flight also had 7 nationals of Maldives.