Nearly 1,800 Indian nationals have left Iran via Armenia and Azerbaijan since the start of the conflict in West Asia, officials said on Monday, while two Indian-flagged carriers carrying 62,000 metric tons of LPG are expected to arrive at Indian ports this week after safely crossing the Strait of Hormuz.
Indian nationals wanting to leave Iran have had to make their way to Armenia and Azerbaijan via land border crossings as Iranian airspace has been closed since the start of hostilities on February 28 due to military strikes launched by Israel and the United States on Iran. External Affairs Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said in a press conference that 1,777 Indian citizens, including 895 students and 345 fishermen, crossed from Iran into Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“Our embassy in Tehran has so far facilitated the movement of 1,777 Indian nationals in Iran to Armenia and Azerbaijan, where they have returned to their homeland,” he said. A total of 1,545 Indians crossed into Armenia, while 234 traveled to Azerbaijan.
Jaiswal said the fishermen, who were working for various companies in Iran, flew to India from Armenia on April 4 and reached Chennai. The Indian Embassy in Tehran also facilitated the movement of a Bangladeshi citizen and a Sri Lankan citizen.
There were about 9,000 Indians, most of them students, in Iran when the West Asian conflict began.
Mukesh Mangal, additional secretary in the Ministry of Ports and Shipping, said at the press conference that the two Indian-flagged tankers – Green Sanvi, carrying 46,500 metric tons of LPG and 25 Indian sailors, and Green Asha, carrying 15,500 metric tons of LPG and 26 sailors, had transited the Strait of Hormuz in the last two days and were on their way to the country’s ports. Green Sanvi is expected to arrive on April 7, and Green Asha on April 9.
16 ships flying the Indian flag and carrying 433 Indian sailors are still located west of the Strait of Hormuz. He added that 12 other foreign-flagged ships carrying goods, such as fertilisers, bound for India, were also in the western Persian Gulf.
Mangal said that of these 16 ships flying the Indian flag, one ship carries LNG, one LPG, and five crude oil. There are also three container ships, one carrying chemicals and two bulk carriers. He said it is not possible to determine a timetable for the return of these ships to India, and the Ministry of Shipping is working with the Ministry of External Affairs to arrange their transit through the vital waterway.
Iran allows ships flying the Indian flag to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which is used to transport 50% of the country’s oil imports, on a case-by-case basis. So far, eight Indian ships carrying energy supplies have been allowed to pass through the waterway, after which Indian warships have escorted them out of the region.
Mangal said the Shipping Ministry has facilitated the repatriation of 1,599 seafarers from West Asia so far, including 180 who have returned to the country since Sunday. Jaiswal said that the bodies of seven of the eight Indian nationals killed in the conflict in West Asia have so far been transported to the country. Among the dead were three sailors.
