KOTA BARU, May 1 — The operation to send Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK) students home in the eastern zone exercise went smoothly yesterday, said deputy vice-chancellor (Student Affairs and Alumni) Prof Dr Zaliman Sauli.

He said the process which involved sending 128 UMK students and 11 students from other institutions in the Eastern Zone to their home in Pahang, Terengganu and the state itself, started at 9 pm last night.

"They were part of the 1,000 UMK students who have been stranded on campus for more than 40 days since the movement control order (MCO) came into force on March 18.

"The entire exercise was conducted in compliance with standard operation procedures (SOP) set by the National Security Council (NSC) and the Ministry of Health (MOH). We have also taken preliminary measures to ensure the safety of students for the journey home,” he said in a statement here today.

Zaliman said the university’s Health Centre had also conducted body temperature and health screening to ensure the students were fit to travel.

The Kelantan Fire and Rescue department also assisted in sanitising students’ luggage before they were brought by buses to their respective destination.

Other than the eastern zone, the process of sending UMK students home in stages also involves six other zones namely central zone (May 2), northern zone (May 3), southern zone (May 6) and Perak zone (May 10) while Sarawak and Sabah zones will be notified later. — Bernama