Nearly 1,200 Indians, mostly students, have returned from Iran: Officials

E-PaperSubscribeSubscribeEnjoy unlimited accessSubscribe Now! Get features like Nearly 1,200 Indian nationals, most of them students, have left Iran since the start of the West Asia conflict by crossing via land borders to Armenia and Azerbaijan, while three Indians were injured in attacks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), officials of the external affairs ministry said on Wednesday. An Inter-Ministerial Briefing on Recent Developments in West Asia at National Media Centre, in New Delhi on Wednesday (ANI)About 9,000 Indians, including students and businesspeople, were in Iran when military strikes by Israel and the US on February 28 triggered the conflict. Scores of students were moved from cities such as Tehran and Isfahan to safer locations, and hundreds of Indians have left the country via land border crossings as Iranian airspace remains closed. “Our embassy in Tehran has facilitated the movement of 1,171 Indian nationals, including 818 students, to exit Iran via the land borders into Armenia and Azerbaijan,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told a media briefing. “From there, our nationals have been flying back to India.” Jaiswal said 977 Indian nationals crossed over from Iran into Armenia, and 194 into Azerbaijan. “We thank the authorities in Armenia and Azerbaijan for their support in facilitating the safe transit of our nationals from Iran,” he said. Aseem Mahajan, additional secretary (Gulf) in the external affairs ministry, told the briefing that three Indian nationals sustained minor injuries in attacks in Dubai on Tuesday. “They are receiving medical treatment at local hospitals and one has since been discharged,” he said. Eight Indian nationals have died in West Asia since the conflict began. Five died in attacks in Kuwait, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman, while three seafarers were killed in attacks on merchant vessels in the early days of the conflict. Another Indian has been reported missing. Dozens of Indians, including workers and seafarers, have been injured in attacks in several Arab states. Mahajan said the bodies of an Indian seafarer killed in an attack on the merchant vessel Safesea Vishnu off the coast of Iraq on March 11 and another killed in Kuwait on March 29 arrived in the country on Wednesday. India’s leadership, during its outreach to West Asian countries, has focused on security and well-being of 10 million Indians living in the region. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are home to about four million Indians each, while one million Indians live in Kuwait. Mahajan said Indians missions in the region are facilitating visas and transit through neighbouring nations for Indians in countries such as Iran, Kuwait, Bahrain and Israel, where the airspace remains closed. Rezaul H Laskar is the Foreign Affairs Editor at Hindustan Times. His interests include movies and music.