The News Minute| July 5, 2014| 11:15 pm IST
New Delhi: Ending a tense period, 183 Indians stranded in strife-torn Iraq, including 122 nurses - 46 from Kerala freed by Iraqi insurgents, 52 from Telangana and 24 from Andhra Pradesh - arrived home Saturday to a grand welcome while 200 more were on their way.
A special Air India flight from Erbil, capital of Iraq's Kurdistan region, carrying the 183 landed in Kochi close to noon with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and his cabinet colleagues, legislators, Lok Sabha members and state government officials waiting to receive them.
The 78 from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, including the 76 nurses, later reached Hyderabad by the special flight and officials were making arrangements to send them to their respective hometowns.
The evacuated Indians also included 15 from Gujarat's Navsari who came to Delhi, and from there, boarded a flight to Mumbai, on way to their homes.
The external affairs ministry said that another 200 Indians to Delhi will return Saturday night by a special Iraqi Airways chartered flight from Najaf.
In the next 48 hours, approximately another 400 Indians would be returning to various destinations, including Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, through commercial flights, said ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin.
About 1,200 Indians would have returned to India at government cost by Monday, while the Indian mission in Baghdad has been able to persuade Iraqi companies to send back approximately 600 other Indian nationals, while processing the papers for 400 others.
With IANS