The phased repatriation of Indian students stranded in Iran has begun as the first batch departed from the country amid escalating tensions and the ongoing war in the Middle East, bringing a sense of relief to anxious families awaiting their safe return.
According to details obtained by the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Indian students enrolled in different medical universities across Iran have started travelling in groups by buses towards the border points of Armenia and Azerbaijan. From these neighbouring countries, the students will be flown back to India as part of the evacuation process being coordinated by the Indian authorities.
The first batch of students includes those studying at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (SBUMS), Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) and Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS). These students had earlier been relocated to the city of Qom as part of precautionary measures taken to ensure their safety and facilitate their movement towards exit routes.
In addition, another group of students from Urmia University of Medical Sciences has also begun travelling towards the Armenian border to join the evacuation process.
Officials familiar with the developments said the Embassy of India in Tehran is closely monitoring the situation and coordinating with authorities in Iran, Armenia and Azerbaijan to ensure the safe and smooth passage of Indian nationals. The embassy is currently awaiting the necessary clearances from the Azerbaijan authorities. Once the required permissions are granted, students from universities including Shiraz University and Arak University are expected to proceed towards the Azerbaijan border as part of the next phase of the evacuation.
However, uncertainty and anxiety continue among students after some of them received notifications that their scheduled flights from Armenia had been cancelled, as some flights for the seventeenth have been cancelled.
