Operation Sindhu: Flight carrying 290 Indian nationals land in Delhi as Iran opens airspace
PTC News Desk: A flight carrying 290 Indian nationals who were evacuated from the conflict hit zone Tehran arrived in New Delhi in the late hours of Friday under the banner of Operation Sindhu. This rescue operation is being conducted through Mahan Air's chartered flights from Mashhad to bring approximately 1,000 Indians back home.
While the first flight from Mashhad has arrived, the second plane carrying Indian evacuees will arrive on Saturday.
"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," Mohammad Javad Hosseini, the deputy chief of mission at the Iranian embassy said at a media briefing.
"The first flight will land tonight at the New Delhi airport and there will be two more flights on Saturday," he said.
Indians, after arriving in New Delhi from second flight, expressed happiness and thanked the government for the evacuation flight. One of the evacuees, Eliya Batool, said, "... I am unable to express what I am feeling right now. My family was very worried. In Iran, we were at ease, we were provided with a 5-star hotel and safety was provided to us. But after coming here, we feel at ease. Thank you so much Indian government. We did not face any issue there because our Embassy made everything easy for us..."
Another one, Maulana Mohammad Saeed, said, "We are happy and grateful that we have been able to return home safe and sound. The situation in Iran is no good and we all know. Indian Embassy and our Ambassador made the evacuation process very smooth and safe..."
'Operation Sindhu' was launched on Wednesday to facilitate the return of Indian nationals from Iran and Israel as tensions escalate between the two rival nations. On Thursday, a group of 110 Indian students were evacuated through Armenia and Doha before boarding a flight to Delhi.
On June 13, Israel launched 'Operation Rising Lion' with a scathing attack and eliminated top echelon of Iran's military command and damaged its nuclear sites. In response, Iran retaliated with air strikes with both countries launching hundreds of missiles at each other in the last four days.
- With inputs from agencies
