‘Waited 2 days for flight’: Afghan returnees on journey back home

The situation at the Kabul airport is chaotic since the Taliban took control, said the officials based on the families’ interaction with the duo.

Melvin, a resident of Ullal in Karnataka, was stranded at the Kabul airport for two days without food after the Taliban took over the Afghanistan capital. He was working as an electrician at a hospital in Kabul and returned home on Wednesday.

The Karnataka government on Wednesday appointed a senior IPS official as the nodal officer to coordinate with the Centre to bring back residents of the state from Afghanistan. (PTI)

“I have been working in Afghanistan for the past 10 years as an electrician in a hospital. Since I was working at a military hospital, my accommodation was near the airport. So, when the message came that the Indian Air Force is operating flights, I was able to get there on time. We had to wait for two days before we could get on the flight,” Melvin recollected.

While he was able to get a direct flight to India operated by the IAF, other Indians who boarded different flights were taken to London, Dubai, and Norway, said Melvin. His brother landed in Qatar and is currently under quarantine.

“The flight first took us to Jamnagar base in Gujarat and from there I went to New Delhi and reached my hometown,” he said.

Though the Taliban had entered Kabul, Melvin said his workplace was secure since it was a military hospital. “I didn’t feel any problems, apart from the anxiety about being able to return home,” he said.

While Melvin was able to make it home, families of two Christian missionaries are awaiting their return, said the Dakshin Kannada district authorities. Officials said information about Father Jerome Sequera from Mangaluru and Father Robert Rodriguez from Teerthahalli have been passed on to the nodal officer appointed for coordinating the rescue of Kannadigas stuck in Afghanistan.

The Karnataka government on Wednesday appointed a senior IPS official as the nodal officer to coordinate with the Centre to bring back residents of the state from Afghanistan.

“As there is a conflict situation in Afghanistan, to bring back Indians stranded there, the central government has already started a helpline. To coordinate with the central government and bring back Kannadigas safely from there, Umesh Kumar, IPS, additional director general of police, CID, Bengaluru, has been appointed as a nodal officer,” an official notification said on Wednesday.

According to the information currently available, both the missionaries were trying to reach the Kabul International Airport. However, the situation is chaotic at the airport since the Taliban took control, said the officials based on the families’ interaction with the duo.

35-year-old Deepak Kumar, another man from Karnataka who recently returned from Afghanistan, said they were able to evacuate before the rush began at the airport.

Kumar was part of the rescue firefighting crew team of the US and NATO army base in Herat. The resident of Puttur in Dakshina Kannada has been working at the base for the past six years. Unlike Melvin who returned to India after Kabul fell, Kumar returned to India on June 22, since the battle for Herat city had begun much earlier.

“We worked with Portuguese and British nationals. Some have joined from Maharashtra and Kerala also. When I worked at a military base, rockets launched by the Taliban used to fall right inside the premises,” Kumar said, adding he wanted to continue working, but the situation was not conducive.

“I am in touch with locals of Herat city who worked with me. There is a curfew kind of atmosphere in the entire city. People are not coming out of their houses,” he said.