Sahar international airport was witness to charged emotions on Friday as over 1,000 Indian evacuees from Libya arrived on four Egypt Air chartered flights.
Sahar international airport was witness to charged emotions on Friday as over 1,000 Indian evacuees from Libya arrived on four Egypt Air chartered flights.
Since most of them are natives of Chennai and Bhubaneshwar, the Central Railway is attaching extra coaches to trains bound to these cities to ensure they reach their destinations.
Though the evacuees were happy to escape the escalating crisis in the Arab country, many rued the late response of the Indian government in rescuing them.
E Mohanan, 59, was one among them. Although he has spent 20 years working in an oil company in Libya, home is all he could think of in the last few days.
“The situation out there is very dangerous for foreigners, who are being openly looted on the streets,” said Mohanan, who was in a hurry to reunite with his family in Chennai.
Sebastian P Pinto, 55, appeared more pragmatic about the destruction he had witnessed and was grateful for the timely assistance of the Indian embassy in Libya.
“At first, everything was peaceful though the town was in the control of the protesters. We contacted the embassy after the situation worsened. They were very prompt in helping us,” he said.
Pinto works as a factory manager in Benghazi in Libya for the last one-and-a-half years and sailed from Benghazi to Alexandria port.
“On the way to Benghazi port, I saw police stations being destroyed and learnt that some 1,200 people had been killed. There were 1,188 Indians aboard the ship to Alexandria. We then flew from Cairo in Egypt to India on Wednesday evening,” he said.
But Harold C, 38, an English professor at Benghazi university, felt that the Indian government let him down. “While countries like Turkey, China, America and UK started evacuating their people long ago, India was the last to respond. I would hear gunshots at night and was really scared,” he said.
Railways to the rescue
For some, returning home was not as easy, but they are glad it’s over. After three days and two nights of traveling in a camel-pulled cart, called Erg Ubari, in blazing sun without food or water and a subsequent three-day grueling sea voyage, followed by a flight to Mumbai, 38-year-old Maharana Laxmidhar was delighted with the ‘comfort’ of the second-class sleeper compartment of the 11019 Mumbai-Bhubaneshwar Konark Express.
The 22-coach train at Mumbai CST had two special coaches with ‘Libya’ chalk markings as the Central Railway, on the request of Maharashtra government, attached special coaches to two trains, one for Chennai and the other for Bhubhaneshwar.
“On getting information from the state government officials about people arriving from Libya, CR responded pro-actively and assisted them in booking wait-listed tickets from the passenger reservation centre at the airport itself,” chief spokesperson Vidyadhar Malegaonkar said.
Railway officials say that another batch of about 1,600 evacuees is expected to arrive in the city in the next few days.
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