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War brings Indians from Kuwait, evacuation plans ready (LEADS) By Deepshikha Ghosh, Indo-Asian News Service New Delhi, Mar 20 (IANS) An exodus of panic-stricken Indians began from the Gulf Thursday as the U.S. launched its long-awaited war on Iraq. Four special Air-India flights were despatched to bring from Kuwait about 1,200 Indians who had sought help to come back. Two of the flights carrying 750 Indians arrived in the morning, one before and another shortly after the U.S. started bombing Baghdad, and landed in Mumbai where anxious relatives received them. "These are special flights pressed into service to bring Indians who wanted to come home," Air-India spokesman Jitender Bhargava told IANS. "We are ready to begin evacuation operations whenever needed." The airline was prepared to operate flights daily for a fortnight to evacuate 2,000 Indians. The government has to evacuate about 50,000 Indians from Kuwait, many of whom fear that the country would be attacked by Iraq following the outbreak of war. Civil Aviation Minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain Thursday said the government had contingency plans to pull out Indians by airlifting them from Jeddah and Iran. "We can pick the Indians up if they go from Kuwait to Saudi Arabia," Hussain said. Bhargava said flights to Dammam, Bahrain and Kuwait were still operating as the airports there had not shut down. Air-India operates eight flights to Dammam, six to Bahrain and seven to Kuwait each week. Hussain had said these flights would have to be cancelled the moment the three airports were shut down due to war. But airline officials said the situation was very much under control. "We have had to divert our flights to U.S. and Europe by only 36 nautical miles over Iran, which means just an extra five minutes," said Bhargava. Air India operates 13 flights to U.S. - three via Paris to New Jersey, seven via London to New York and three via London to Chicago each week. It also operates three flights a week to Frankfurt and one to London. The government apprehends huge losses due to the rise in operational costs when flights would have to take a circuitous route and consume more time and fuel. Hussain had also hinted at a fare hike to offset the losses. The Air-India official said contrary to fears, fuel prices had actually fallen in the past 48 hours. "So far, we do not see any major hike in the cost of operation due to any fuel price rise." Since December, the cost of aviation turbine fuel had increased by 44 percent from $1.01 to $1.44 per gallon. But he admitted the situation could quickly change for the worse. Bhargava asserted that Air-India was prepared to evacuate Indians from the region at a short notice. The first special Air-India flight landed at 7:00 a.m., and the second flight a little after 10.30 a.m. Each flight carried some 375 Indians. Officials here say the Indians have not been asked to leave Kuwait although all Indian nationals have been asked to quit Iraq. Passengers on board one of the Air-India flights told journalists that they were asked by their employers to leave. Many of Thursday's returnees were employed with KNBC Refineries. Some said their projects were suspended following the U.S. decision to go to war. Many have been told to contact their employers for their jobs after four to six months. Several others who arrived here were wives and children of men employed in Kuwait. The evening flight would land at Kochi in Kerala. More flights will be pressed to bring back Indians if required, say officials. International airlines are operating flights connecting India to Bahrain, Dammam and Kuwait. Should flights be prevented from over flying Iran, aircraft will take a detour over Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Another route is the Oman-Yemen-Saudi Arabia sector and a third longer detour would be via Yemen-Djibouti-Sudan-Saudi Arabia-Egypt. --Indo-Asian News Service _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.goanet.org/mailman/listinfo/goanet
