Indian students in Iran recall horror as Israel fires missiles: ‘Bombs in our neighbourhood'

Hindustan Times

14 hours ago

The Indian government under 'Operation Sindhu' facilitated the return of 110 students from Iran, amid the country's conflict with Israel on Thursday. After being evacuated from the war-torn region, students recalled the fear and destruction that they witnessed.
'We saw missiles in the sky and heard bombs in our neighbourhood. We were petrified,' MBBS student Mir Khalif told PTI after arriving at Delhi airport on Thursday.
Mir Khalif described the experience in Iran as a nightmare and thanked the Indian government for bringing them back home.
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"We saw missiles and heard bombings. It was a war zone. Our building shook during the attacks. I hope no student has to face what we did," he said.
"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.
The students, including 90 from Jammu and Kashmir, were moved from Tehran to Armenia earlier this week by the Indian embassy as explosions and air strikes rocked Iranian cities.
Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh received the students at the airport and said in a post on X, 'Warmly welcomed home the first group of 110 Indian nationals evacuated from Iran as part of Operation Sindhu, reaffirming India's steadfast commitment to the safety and well-being of its citizens abroad.'
Another student who was evacuated, Varta, who hailed from Kashmir, 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 the Indian Embassy, which worked very fast and swiftly to bring us here.'
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"Our neighbourhood was attacked. When the Indian government came to our doorstep, it felt like home," she added.
Ali Akbar, a student from Delhi, said the destruction was visible everywhere and that Tehran was 'in ruins.'
"We saw a missile and a drone fall from the sky while travelling in a bus. Tehran is in ruins. The images on the news are real, the situation is very bad," he said.
Minister Kirti Vardhan Singh confirmed that further evacuation efforts were scheduled under Operation Sindhu as well, and thanked the governments of Turkmenistan and Armenia for their help.
"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 helplines for any request for evacuation. As the situation evolves, we will be sending more planes to evacuate Indian nationals," he said.
Haider Ali, father of MBBS student Maaz Haider, told PTI, "We are happy and grateful, but our hearts are still heavy knowing that many students are still stuck in Tehran. We urge the government to bring them back too."
Parvez Alam from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, whose son studied in Urmia, said, "We were under constant stress. The students were shifted to Armenia and looked after well. We thank the government for this."