All Indians safe in Kyrgyzstan, to return soon

All the 116 Indian nationals, who were stranded in riot-hit southern Kyrgyzstan, have been safely evacuated and will return to India over the next few days, the government said in New Delhi on Tuesday.

All the 116 Indian nationals, who were stranded in riot-hit southern Kyrgyzstan, have been safely evacuated and will return to India over the next few days, the government said in New Delhi on Tuesday.

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The Indians stranded in the southern Kyrgyz towns of Osh and Jalal-Abad were safely evacuated last night by air to Bishkek, the external affairs ministry said here.

"They are expected to return to India over the next few days. Flights out of Bishkek are operating normally," the ministry said.

The airlift of the Indian citizens was arranged by the Indian embassy in Bishkek with the active cooperation and support of the Kyrgyz authorities.

Around 116 Indians were feared trapped in the riot-hit former Soviet republic. The stranded Indians included 15 students in Jalalabad and 99 students, a professor and a businessman in Osh.

In the worst ethnic violence in decades, at least 124 people have been killed and more than 1,685 wounded in southern Kyrgyzstan.