200 Indian nationals to be flown to Delhi in next 48 hours: MEA

Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin on Sunday said that two special flights will be flying to New Delhi from Najaf and Basra in Iraq, with over 200 Indian nationals in next 36-48 hours.

"Two other special flights will be flying to New Delhi from Najaf and Basra in next 36-48 hours with over 200 Indian nationals. Over 486 telephone calls were received by our control rooms by the people who want to return and we are responding to each one of them," he added.

"We have focused on two areas out of which one is the non conflict zone, where we have placed mobile teams of six persons each who have gone to the areas of work and have collected details of people who want to leave. In case there are some who cannot provide the required amount for their tickets, the Indian government is ready to pay for them," he said.

"We are also ready to provide assistance in terms of those who have contractual issues. Based on that our assessment is that over 2200 Indian nationals have indicated their desire to leave of these 600 are those who have been provided tickets. Over 1600 are being provided tickets by the Indian Government for the return of those in Iraq," he added.

On Saturday, a special Air India plane carrying 46 Indian nurses, who had been held captive in Iraq, landed in Kochi and were given a thumping welcome.

The special Air India flight carrying the nurses arrived at Kochi following a stopover at Mumbai.

There were about 10,000 Indians in Iraq before the start of the strife between government troops and Sunni militants. The militants have captured two key cities and have their sights set on Baghdad. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been displaced in the fighting that broke out on June 10.