New Delhi: India on Tuesday evacuated over 1,100 citizens from Iran and Israel amid ongoing tensions between the two countries, taking the number of evacuees under Operation Sindhu to 3,170.
It brought back 594 Indians from Israel, using C-17 heavy-lift aircraft of the Indian Air Force to fly out over 400 people after they were moved out of Israel to Jordan and Egypt by land transit points.
Also, 161 Indians were brought back in a chartered flight from Amman after they moved to the Jordanian capital from Israel by road.
A total of 573 Indians, three Sri Lankan and two Nepalese nationals were evacuated from Iran in two chartered flights on Tuesday, according to details shared by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
With the fresh batches of evacuees from Iran, India has brought back 2,576 Indians from the Persian Gulf nation so far.
In total, India evacuated 3,170 Indians from Iran and Israel after Operation Sindhu was launched last week following the conflict between the two countries.
The first group of 161 Indians moved from Israel to Jordan by road and reached New Delhi in a chartered flight from Amman at 8.20 am on Tuesday. The group was received at the airport by Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margherita.
Another group of 165 Indians moved from Israel to Jordan were flown back to New Delhi from Amman in a C-17 aircraft. The group was received by Minister of State L Murugan.
A separate group of 268 Indians, who crossed over from Israel to Egypt, were evacuated in a C-17 aircraft from Sharm-el-Sheikh and arrived in New Delhi at 11 am.
Two-hundred-ninety-two Indian nationals were evacuated from Iran on a special flight that arrived in New Delhi from Mashhad at 3:30 am, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
Another batch of 281 Indian, three Sri Lankan and two Nepalese nationals were evacuated from Iran. They arrived in New Delhi on a special flight from Mashad at 3 pm, he said.
“2576 Indian nationals have now been brought home from Iran as part of #OperationSindhu,” Jaiswal added.
The Nepalese ambassador thanked the Indian authorities for assisting the Nepalese nationals.
“Thank you Ministry of External Affairs and Embassy of India in Iran,” Nepalese ambassador to India Dr Shankar Sharma wrote on social media.
Two-hundred-ninety Indian nationals and one Sri Lankan were evacuated from Iranian city Mashhad on a special flight Monday night.
Israel and Iran have fired hundreds of missiles and drones at each other’s cities and military and strategic facilities since the hostilities began over a week back.
The tensions escalated significantly following the US bombing of three major Iranian nuclear sites on Sunday morning.
India has evacuated its nationals on chartered flights operated from the Iranian city of Mashhad, the Armenian capital of Yerevan and the Turkmenistan capital of Ashgabat since Wednesday. Iran lifted airspace restrictions on Friday to facilitate three chartered flights from Mashhad.
The first flight landed in New Delhi late on Friday with 290 Indians, and the second one landed in the national capital on Saturday afternoon with 310 Indians.
Another flight arrived from the Armenian capital city of Yerevan on Thursday. A special evacuation flight from Ashgabat landed in New Delhi early on Saturday morning.
