Second flight carrying 290 Indian students evacuated from Iran lands in Delhi | WATCH

A flight carrying 290 Indian students, who were evacuated from Iran, landed in New Delhi on late Friday (Jun 20), the J&K Students Association said. This flight marks the second one that reached India as part of the government's efforts to evacuate Indian nationals and students from Iran amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East. In a post on X, the student association thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the External Affairs Ministry, and all concerned authorities for timely evacuating the students.

The association wrote, “Mahan Air evacuation flight from Mashhad, Iran, carrying 290 students, the majority of whom are from Kashmir has landed safely in New Delhi just now. Heartfelt thanks PM, EAM and all concerned authorities for their timely intervention and support.”

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal posted on X, “Operation Sindhu flight brings citizens home. India evacuated 290 Indian nationals from Iran, including students and religious pilgrims by a charter flight. The flight arrived in New Delhi at 2330 hrs on 20 June and was received by Secretary (CPV& OIA) Arun Chatterjee.”

“Government of India is grateful to the Government of Iran for the facilitation of the evacuation process.”

Earlier, Iran said it had opened its airspace for evacuation flights to India, in a special gesture. Iran's Deputy Chief of Mission to India Mohammad Javad Hosseini told WION that Indian nationals were moved from Tehran to Mashhad via Qom. in the first phase of evacuation efforts. Arrangements were made for 1,000 Indians with the Indian Embassy in Iran, and they were allocated Mahaan Airlines.

The first flight carrying 110 students from Iran landed at Delhi International Airport on early Thursday (Jun 19) under ‘Operation Sindhu’. The first batch of students, all from Urmia Medical University, were brought from Iran to Armenia by road and brought to Delhi via flight. The flight was delayed by three hours, NDTV reported.

According to reports, there are over 13,000 Indian students in Iran. Most of them are pursuing medical degrees. To evacuate Indian nationals from Iran amid its conflict with Israel, the Ministry of External Affairs announced ‘Operation Sindhu’.

“Operation Sindhu begins,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal posted on X. “India accords the highest priority to the safety and security of her nationals abroad,” he added.