New Delhi, Aug 9 (TIWN) In the aftermath of the Air India Express plane crash that killed 18 people, Union Civil Aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Sunday said the Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) for evacuating stranded Indians across the globe amid the pandemic will continue with the "same undaunted spirit".

In a series of tweets, he paid tribute to the people who lost their lives in the tragedy and also applauded the "solidarity and brotherhood" shown by the people of Kozhikode who took personal risks in providing immediate relief and help to the victims. Their immediate support helped in averting a greater tragedy, he added.

"Deeply pained at the loss of lives on Flight IX-1344 operating under Vande Bharat, a mission which has otherwise been incident-free & facilitated repatriation of more than 973K stranded citizens through various modes," Puri said in a tweet.