Students who were evacuated from war-torn Iran recalled the critical situation they were faced with in the country, and thanked the Indian government for the swift action in bringing them back home.
The first flight carrying 110 Indian students, who were evacuated from war-torn Iran to Armenia, landed in Delhi in the early hours on Thursday.
Amid escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, Indian students in Tehran were moved out of the city, with 110 of them crossing the border into Armenia through arrangements made by the Indian Embassy on Tuesday as part of 'Operation Sindhu'.
Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh said that more people are being evacuated.
"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 lines for any request for evacuation. As the situation evolves, we will be sending more planes to evacuate Indian nationals," Singh, who is also the Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, told reporters.
He thanked governments in Turkmenistan and Armenia for their support.
Varta, a student from Kashmir, who was among those who landed here, said, "We were the first ones to be evacuated from Iran. The situation was quite critical. We were terrified. We thank the Indian government and Indian embassy who worked very fast and swiftly to bring us here."
"Our neighborhood was attacked. When the Indian government came to our doorstep, it felt like home," she told PTI-Videos.
She said the Armenian authorities were also very helpful.
Mir Khalif, an MBBS student who landed in Delhi, said it was a tense situation in Iran.
"We could see missiles. There was a war going on. Our neighbourhood was bombed. We were very afraid of the situation. I hope we will never see those days again," he told reporters.
Khalif thanked the Indian government for evacuating them first to Armenia and then bringing them back home.
"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.
Ali Akbar, another Indian student, said that while they were traveling on a bus, they saw a missile and a drone fall.
"The situation that has been shown in the news is correct. It is extremely bad. Tehran has been destroyed," the student from Delhi said.
The parents of some students were seen anxiously waiting outside the airport for their children.
Haider Ali, the father of 21-year-old Maaz Haider, an MBBS student in Iran, thanked the Indian government for the rescue efforts.
"We are really happy. The students have been brought back home safely. We thank the Indian government for this. But we are sad that students, who are stuck in Tehran, have not been rescued," he told PTI Videos, and urged the authorities to evacuate students still stranded in Tehran.
Parvez Alam, father of Sameer Alam, was also seen waiting for his son at the airport.
"It has been two years since he has been studying in Urmia. Everything was fine but recently the situation deteriorated. We were under a lot of stress. But the Indian government evacuated students to Armenia where they were kept in good hotels. We are thankful to the Indian government," the Bulandshahr resident told PTI Videos.
The Jammu and Kashmir Students' Association thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar for launching the evacuation effort.
"We remain hopeful that all remaining students will be evacuated soon," the association said in a statement.
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