200 stranded in Iraq back in India; 20 are from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana

Hyderabad: More than 200 Indians living in Iraq were flown back to New Delhi on Sunday.

Of them 20 were natives of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. All of them will be flown to the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on separate flights soon.

Most of those who returned on Sunday were working in Iraq as construction workers or tour drivers and were stuck in Erbil and Najaf.

An official press release by the Ministry of External Affairs stated that nearly 1,600 Indian nationals in Iraq were being provided travel documents and other formalities by the Indian government to send them back to India.

The update, which was also on their Facebook page stated, “Two other special flights will be operated to New Delhi from Najaf and Basra in the next 36 to 48 hours with approximately 200 Indians.”
It also stated that more than 486 phone calls had been received at the control rooms from stranded Indians in Iraq.

Mr M. Bheem Reddy, vice president, Migrants Rights Council said, “Of the 200 people who returned to India today, about 15 of them were Telugus living in districts around Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Most of them hailed from Kari-mnagar and Nizamabad. We are expecting more to return soon.”