Special Flights Bring Back 458 Maharashtra Tourists From Kashmir Following Deadly Terror Strike

Mumbai: A total of 458 tourists from Maharashtra, who were stuck in Jammu and Kashmir following the deadly terror attack on Tuesday, landed in Mumbai Thursday on three special flights.

Following the attack in Pahalgam’s Baisaran, in which 26 people were killed, including six from Maharashtra, tourists are scrambling to return to their home states. Notably, a sizable number of tourists are from Maharashtra, which is the biggest market for J&K’s tourism, in terms of footfall as well as spending capacity.

The government is trying to bring back maximum people from the state by arranging special flights from Srinagar to Mumbai.

Simultaneously, Deputy CM Eknath Shinde reached Srinagar to assist in evacuation. Accordingly, he also arranged a special flight in which 65 tourists reached Mumbai on Thursday at 3.30am. The other two flights – Indigo's 6E3251 and Air India's AI1662 – evacuated 231 and 162 people, respectively. Both the carriers landed in Mumbai at 6.22pm.

The flights were arranged in coordination with the state and the ministry of civil aviation. “We will send more flight if necessary,” said Murlidhar Mohol, minister of state for civil aviation.