New Delhi [India], June 27 (ANI): A special evacuation flight carrying 173 Indian nationals from Iran landed in New Delhi late Thursday evening as part of the Government of India’s ongoing Operation Sindhu, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirmed.
The flight from Yerevan, Armenia, arrived at 10:30 PM IST on June 26. In a statement, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “#OperationSindhu A special evacuation flight from Yerevan, Armenia, landed in New Delhi at 22:30 hrs on 26th June, bringing home 173 Indian nationals from Iran. As part of #OperationSindhu, a total of 4,415 Indian nationals (3,597 from Iran and 818 from Israel) have been evacuated so far using 19 special evacuation flights including 3 IAF aircraft.”
He further noted that in addition to Indian citizens, the evacuation also included 14 OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) cardholders, nine Nepali nationals, four Sri Lankan nationals, and one Iranian spouse of an Indian national.
Several evacuees expressed deep gratitude to the Indian government for their safe return. One Indian student said, “The government helped us in every aspect; they did whatever they could.” Another added, “I thank our Prime Minister, External Affairs Ministry, on behalf of all the students, as we received very good facilities.”
Speaking at a weekly press briefing earlier on Thursday, Jaiswal provided an overview of the ongoing evacuation efforts. “We launched Operation Sindhu on the 18th of June. We have around 10,000 people from the Indian community in Iran, and around 40,000 people in Israel who are Indian nationals,” he said.
He also thanked the governments of Iran, Turkmenistan, and Armenia for facilitating the safe evacuation. “We made a request, and they helped open the airspace for us to evacuate our nationals. We are grateful to the government of Iran for this special gesture. We are also thankful to the governments of Turkmenistan and Armenia for their cooperation,” Jaiswal said.
Operation Sindhu was launched in response to the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel, aimed at ensuring the safety of Indian citizens residing in the affected regions. (ANI)
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