Stranded Australians repatriated in dramatic scenes at Adelaide Airport

A flight from India carrying almost 400 Australians touched down in Adelaide, with half a dozen patients sent straight to hospital.

A passenger from the International Mercy Flight into Adelaide getting escorted to quarantine. Picture: AAP

Almost 400 stranded Australians have been repatriated from India to South Australia with the first of two flights scheduled this week touching down amid dramatic scenes in Adelaide on Monday.

A Lion flight carrying 374 Australians landed at 7.20am at Adelaide Airport this morning with half a dozen patients placed on gurneys and taken straight to hospital to receive treatment for non-coronavirus related conditions.

The passengers have been stranded for several weeks in India due to the international flight ban. At this stage none of the passengers has tested positive for COVID-19.

A passenger loaded onto an ambulance. Picture: AAP

Many of the passengers are elderly and there were also 30 infants on the flight, which landed in an unprecedented high-security operation co-ordinated by SA Police and SA Health, with the passengers bussed into Adelaide’s Pullman Hotel where they will remain under armed police guard for two weeks’ quarantine.

SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens described the operation as “a massive logistical exercise” which had been framed around watching the challenges faced by other states with cruise ships to ensure that if any passengers had COVID-19 the threat could be contained.

“I don’t think anyone would really appreciate just what goes into moving nearly 400 people from the custody of the pilot of a plane though a processing area and then onto buses and moving them into a secure supervised facility,” the Commissioner said on Monday.

“It’s just a phenomenal effort. It’s taken about 182 people to execute that plan and it will take about four to five hours to move all of those people safely and efficiently into the city and into the hotel.”

SA Premier Steven Marshall announced the operation on Saturday, with a second flight from India via Jakarta set to arrive in SA tomorrow.

A passenger loaded onto an ambulance.

Passengers getting escorted to quarantine into Pullman's Hotel. Picture: AAP

Commissioner Stevens said the repatriation had required serious and detailed planning to ensure no mistakes were made.

“It’s the sort of things you may not even think about,” he said. “There are about 30 infants on the plane which means we have to have different sized nappies on site and ready to be used, cots, caring requirements, medical requirements, it’s phenomenal.”

The passengers all received preliminary health checks the moment they landed in Adelaide to make sure they were showing no signs of COVID-19 and will undergo more thorough swab tests at the Pullman Hotel over the coming days.

Commissioner Stevens made it clear SA Police would not tolerate anyone who attempted to get around the quarantine process.

Emergency staff are seen at Adelaide Airport. Picture: AAP

“This doesn’t stop once we get the people into the hotel,” he said. “We need to be able to ensure that these people who are subject to supervised quarantine don’t place the health of the SA public at risk by being able to move freely through the community.

Passengers escorted by SA Police through Adelaide Airport. Picture: AAP

“There is a security plan in place that uses private security personnel plus police officers. I can pretty much assure people that the Pullman Hotel is provided for our exclusive use to the point where nobody could leave that hotel without being stopped by a police officer.”

SA Health said it was confident the transition process from the airport to the hotel had been seamless and that the broader SA community would be safe.

SA Police were on hand on Monday morning. Picture: AAP

“At all points when the people coming through off the flights, through the airport and into the hotels, they will be very closely secured on that journey,” SA Health deputy chief medical officer Michael Cusack said on Monday.