225 Iran evacuees airlifted from Jodhpur to Leh

A batch of 225 Indians evacuated from coronavirus-hit Iran and quarantined at an Army’s wellness centre in Rajasthan's Jodhpur was airlifted to the Leh air base on Wednesday.

They were airlifted from the Jodhpur Air Force station.

They all belonged to the Kargil and Ladakh regions and had demanded to go back home for the month of Ramzan, starting next week.

On Tuesday too, a batch of 180 people was airlifted from Jaisalmer to Jammu and Kashmir after they completed their quarantine period.

According to Army sources, they are being sent home in the wake of the holy month of Ramzan.

“The decision has been taken after they spent a significant period in quarantine at the Army’s wellness centres in Jodhpur and Jaisalmer,” said the sources.

“A total of 405 evacuees have been airlifted to their homes in the past two days and more will be airlifted in the next a few days," they said.

The Indian authorities had evacuated 1,036 people from Iran in five phases from March 15 to 29.

While 484 of them were kept in Jaisalmer, 552 were accommodated in Jodhpur.

Sixty-one of them had tested positive for coronavirus and admitted to AIIMS, Jodhpur.

“Of these, 32 have fully recovered,” ADM Mahipal Bhardwaj said.

A few days ago, some of the evacuees had reportedly held a hunger strike in Jaisalmer, demanding that they be sent back home.