INDIAN External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday (7) that 80 Indian students are still living in the coronavirus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan.
He added that 70 of them chose to stay behind at the time of the evacuation operation.
The minister said that the Indian Embassy in China is in touch with all the students in Wuhan and the Central government is regularly monitoring their situation.
The minister revealed that 10 among these 80 students had expressed willingness to return to India but could not board the special Air India flight as they failed the screening process.
As many as 640 Indians and 7 Maldivians had returned to New Delhi last week on two special Air India flights from Wuhan, which has been the epicentre of the new strain of coronavirus.
Jaishankar has said that the country has extended the offer of evacuating people from Wuhan to all its neighbouring countries including Pakistan, but the only Maldives chose to take up the offer.
“We were prepared to bring back not only our people but also those from all our neighbourhood who would have liked to. This was an offer which was made to all our neighbours but only seven nationals of Maldives chose to avail the offer,” Jaishankar said.
This is an alarming situation as the three positive cases reported from India so far are from the South Indian state of Kerala. Latest reports suggest that the situation of these patients is stable.
But, there may be positive cases among those 80 Indian citizens stranded in Wuhan, China.
Clifford had previously pleaded guilty to the murders of BBC sports commentator John Hunt’s wife and two daughters at their home in northwest of London, in July 2024. (Photo: Hertfordshire Police /Handout via REUTERS)
Crossbow murderer found guilty of raping ex-girlfriend
A 26-YEAR-OLD man who murdered three women in a crossbow and stabbing attack has been found guilty of raping one of them, his ex-girlfriend, a British court ruled on Thursday.
Kyle Clifford had previously pleaded guilty to the murders of BBC sports commentator John Hunt’s wife and two daughters at their home in Bushey, northwest of London, in July 2024.
The attack led to a manhunt before Clifford was found injured hours later in a north London cemetery.
A jury at Cambridge Crown Court on Thursday convicted Clifford of raping 25-year-old Louise Hunt before killing her.
His sentencing for all the crimes is scheduled for Tuesday.
Clifford had admitted to murdering Carol Hunt, 61, and her daughters Louise and Hannah, 28. He had also pleaded guilty to charges of false imprisonment and possessing offensive weapons but denied raping Louise.
During the trial, the court heard that after killing Carol Hunt, Clifford waited for an hour before attacking Louise, tying her up, raping her, and then killing her with a crossbow. He later killed Hannah when she returned home from work.
The prosecution described Clifford, a former soldier, as committing a "violent, sexual act of spite" and said he was "enraged" after Louise ended their 18-month relationship. They told the court that he had "carefully planned" the attack.
Less than 24 hours before the killings, Clifford had searched for a podcast by social media influencer Andrew Tate, according to the prosecution. They argued that the murders were driven by the "violent misogyny promoted" by Tate.
Justice Joel Bennathan called Clifford’s crimes "dreadful" and "almost unspeakable".
(With inputs from AFP)