A chartered flight from China arrived early on Tuesday in Mexico City to bring back some 99 nationals stranded in Mexico, the epicenter of the A/H1N1 flu outbreak.

The aircraft Boeing 777-200 arrived at about 1:50 AM (0750 GMT) early on Tuesday at international airport Benito Juarez to lift 79 Chinese citizens stranded in the capital.

The plane is also scheduled to pick up 20 more Chinese from Tijuana, northern city on the US-Mexico border, after setting off from the Mexico City.

The plane is expected to return to Shanghai at 10:00 AM on Wednesday local time (0200 GMT), its operator Guangzhou-based China Southern Airlines said.

China sent the chartered flight after an agreement between the two governments to send chartered flights to each other's countries to lift their stranded nationals,

The 17-strong crew have been trained on precautions against the flu and dealing with any health emergencies, the airline told Xinhua.

A quarantine expert from the Ministry of Health and doctors from the airline would closely monitor the health conditions of the passengers.

If any passengers developed symptoms like fever, all the passengers and flight crew would probably be quarantined after returning to China, the airline said.

China suspended direct flights from Mexico to Shanghai since Saturday after a 25-year-old Mexican man, who arrived in Shanghai on Thursday aboard flight Aeromexico 098, was later diagnosed with A/H1N1 flu in Hong Kong.

The Mexican became Hong Kong's first confirmed case of A/H1N1 infection on Friday.