Indian nationals wait in Turkmenistan to board special flights to India.
Three charter flights will land in Delhi tonight with about 1,000 Indian nationals, mostly students, from Iran. The evacuation was made possible after Iran lifted airspace restrictions in a special gesture for India. Another flight, carrying Indian nationals from Turkmenistan’s capital Ashgabat will also land in Delhi. The Indians returning on the flight had left Iran through a land border crossing.
“We faced no issues till now,” said an Indian student after being evacuated from Iran.
However, their journey to their motherland was not easy.
Many of them like Mir Khalif saw missiles and heard bombs as they hid in their homes in Iran.
‘Tehran is in Ruins, The Images on the News are Real’
“We saw missiles and heard bombings. It was a war zone. Our building shook during the attacks. I hope no student has to face what we did,” said Khalif, an MBBS student, his voice still trembling with fear as he recalled the situation on the ground.
Khalif was among the 110 Indian students of the Urmia University of Medical Sciences in Iran’s Urmia city who were flown back to India as part of the special operation launched by the Indian government.
The students, including 90 from Jammu and Kashmir, were moved from Tehran to Armenia earlier this week as explosions and aerial attacks rocked Iranian cities. The rescue was coordinated by the Indian Embassy.
“There are students still stuck in Iran. They are being relocated to safer places. We hope they will also be airlifted to India soon,” he added.
Varta, a resident of Kashmir, recalled the fear she lived through.
“We were the first ones to be evacuated from Iran. The situation was quite critical. We were terrified. We thank the Indian government and the Indian Embassy, which worked swiftly to bring us here.
“Our neighbourhood was attacked. When the Indian government came to our doorstep, it felt like home,” she told PTI Videos.
Ali Akbar, who hails from Delhi, said the destruction was visible everywhere.
“We saw a missile and a drone fall from the sky while travelling in a bus. Tehran is in ruins. The images on the news are real, the situation is very bad,” he said.
The students were received at the Delhi airport by Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh.
Later, in a post on X, he said, “Warmly welcomed home the first group of 110 Indian nationals evacuated from Iran as part of Operation Sindhu, reaffirming India’s steadfast commitment to the safety and well-being of its citizens abroad.”
Singh also shared some photos of the arrival of Indian nationals at the airport. Singh confirmed that evacuation efforts under Operation Sindhu are ongoing, with more flights scheduled.
“We have planes ready. We will be sending another plane today. We are evacuating some more people from Turkmenistan. Our missions have opened 24-hour helplines for any request for evacuation. As the situation evolves, we will be sending more planes to evacuate Indian nationals,” he said.
The Union minister thanked the governments of Turkmenistan and Armenia for their support.
Haider Ali, the father of MBBS student Maaz Haider, said, “We are happy and grateful, but our hearts are still heavy knowing that many students are still stuck in Tehran. We urge the government to bring them back too.”
Parvez Alam from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, whose son studied in Urmia, said, “We were under constant stress. The students were shifted to Armenia and looked after well. We thank the government for this.”
The Jammu and Kashmir Students’ Association also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar for the evacuation.
‘We Consider Indians as Our Own People’
Mohammad Javad Hosseini, the deputy chief of mission at the Iranian embassy, said more evacuation flights could be operated in the coming days to bring back Indians if required.
“We consider Indians as our own people. Iran’s airspace is closed but because of this issue, we are making arrangements to open it for the safe passage of Indian nationals,” Hosseini said at a media briefing.
The Iranian diplomat said more such flights could be arranged in the coming days if required.
Hosseini said Tehran is in close contact with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Indian embassy in Iran to ensure safe evacuation of Indian nationals.
“We are arranging for the safe passage of Indians who want to leave via air or via road through third countries or directly from Iran,” he said.
Hosseini said about 10,000 Indians are living in Iran and those wishing to return home are being evacuated.
The Israel-Iran military hostilities began more than a week back.
