Nearly 70 Indians, mostly students from Jammu and Kashmir, recount days of fear and uncertainty amid bombardments before finally returning home
Nearly 70 Indian nationals, most of them students and pilgrims from Jammu and Kashmir, returned to New Delhi on Sunday after escaping the ongoing conflict in Iran through a complex land-and-air route. The group arrived at Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport on a commercial Flydubai flight after a nearly four-day journey across multiple borders.
Among them was 22-year-old Naina Toiba, an MBBS student at Urmia University of Medical Sciences in Iran, who described the moment of relief after landing in Delhi. “I have landed and I am safe,” she told her family, recalling the fear of living amid explosions and fighter jet activity.
Students said the situation worsened as bombardments intensified, with some blasts occurring dangerously close to residential buildings. Many stocked up on basic supplies and spent days indoors with limited access to internet or television as communications were disrupted.
The group travelled by bus from different Iranian cities to the Iran–Armenia border, crossed into Armenia, flew from Yerevan to Dubai, and then boarded a connecting flight to Delhi as Iranian airspace remains shut following the war that began on February 28.
While the first group has reached home safely, student groups say more than 1,000 Indians are still stranded in Iran and awaiting evacuation.
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