SRINAGAR: India on Sunday evacuated 311 more nationals from Iran as part of its ongoing Operation Sindhu, launched in response to rising hostilities between Iran and Israel, media reports said.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the evacuees arrived in New Delhi at 4:30 PM on a special flight from Mashhad. With this, the total number of Indians brought back from Iran has reached 1,428.
Operation Sindhu was initiated last week to evacuate Indian citizens from conflict zones in Iran and Israel, following the sharp escalation in tensions, especially after the U.S. bombed three Iranian nuclear sites early Sunday morning.
Since Wednesday, India has used chartered flights to evacuate citizens from Mashhad, Yerevan (Armenia), and Ashgabat (Turkmenistan). On Friday, Iran lifted airspace restrictions to enable three evacuation flights from Mashhad.
The first flight with 290 Indians arrived late Friday, followed by another with 310 passengers on Saturday afternoon. A flight from Yerevan landed Thursday, and one from Ashgabat reached New Delhi early Saturday.
Israel and Iran have exchanged heavy missile and drone fire targeting cities and key installations since hostilities began over a week ago.
