'Felt next bomb would hit our hotel': Indian returnees from Iran recount horror as US-Iran war continues

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• Indian students evacuated from war-hit Iran arrive in Delhi
• Evacuation flight delayed in Dubai due to drone attacks
• Students endured lockdowns and fear during their stay in Iran

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Nearly two weeks after living under the shadow of airstrikes in war-hit Iran, a group of Indian students finally landed in New Delhi late on Monday night as part of the second evacuation flight bringing stranded nationals back home.

Among them was 23-year-old Labeeb Qadri, a medical student who said the sense of safety still feels distant even after reaching India.

“Till the time I don’t see my family in Kashmir, I won’t feel like I have returned home,” said 23-year-old Labeeb Qadri who arrived at the Indira Gandhi International Airport along with dozens of other students, Hindustan Times reported.

The flight transporting the group operated from Yerevan in Armenia to Delhi but was delayed by nearly 12 hours after halting in Dubai. The delay occurred after the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority temporarily suspended flight operations at Dubai’s airport as a precaution.

“DCAA announces temporary suspension of flights at Dubai International Airport as a precautionary measure to ensure safety of all passengers and staff,” the DCAA had said in a post on X on March 16.

For many of the students on board, the journey home was long and uncertain. They first travelled by road from different universities in Iran to the Iran-Armenia border before crossing into Armenia. From there, they boarded a flight from Yerevan to Dubai and later connected onward to Delhi as Iranian airspace remains shut following the war that began on February 28.

Qadri, who studies medicine at Urmia University, said the past few days had been exhausting and frightening.

“When we were in Iran there was constant bombing, then once we crossed the border we thought we are safe. Just when we were on the last leg of our journey in Dubai, multiple drone attack happened at the airport. We were stranded first in Iran then in Dubai. So, I am still unable to process that we have reached India,” said Qadri. “We were in complete lockdown and constantly lived in the fear that the next bomb could be dropped on our hostel,” Qadri added.

He said most international students from neighbouring countries had already left, leaving only a small group of Indian students behind at the university.

“Students from Iraq, Turkey, and Pakistan had all left. It was just us around 45 Indian students who were left. We stayed in the basement for nearly two weeks, and barely moved out. In case, we needed to do some really necessary shopping, we would go out in groups,” the 23-year-old told HT while recalling what he described as his most traumatic experience.

Another medical student from Tehran University of Medical Sciences, originally from Srinagar in Kashmir, said the initial relocation from Tehran had brought only temporary comfort.

“It was just horrible. The Indian Embassy shifted us from Tehran to a hotel in a comparatively safer place. We stayed there in the hotel for 3-4 days, but then the war started becoming more aggressive,” the student said.

Outside the arrival gates at Terminal 3 of the Delhi airport, anxious families waited for hours for the students to emerge. Among them was Rihanna Khan, whose daughter Adhfar Khan is a fourth year MBBS student in Iran.

“Just 3-4 days before the war started. She had asked us to sent some money and later we were glad that we did because as the war started, we could barely know anything about her,” said Khan who’s daughter had gone back to Iran on February 13. “Several of us parents were constantly in touch. When we booked her flight and she reached Dubai we were relieved, but then the flight got delayed, making us anxious again,” Khan added.

This was the second such evacuation flight to reach Delhi with Indians stranded in Iran. The first aircraft carrying around 80 people, including students and pilgrims, had arrived on Sunday morning. The latest flight reached the capital much later than scheduled due to the temporary suspension of flight operations in Dubai.