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First Indian to return from Syria ‘thanks’ govt, describes Damascus horror
Ravi Bhushan said that the Syrian embassy kept updating the Indian nationals every hour through messages about the rescue operation.
A Ghaziabad resident, first of the 75 Indian nationals to return to home from Syria, recounted the horrifying situation in Damascus and thanked the Indian government for its help.
Ravi Bhushan told ANI about the efforts the Indian embassy made to help get the Indian nationals back home.
"India has started a rescue operation and we are the first team who rescued from Syria. The best part is that they contacted each and everyone. They were even motivating them and asking them if they were okay," he said.
Bhushan told ANI that the Syrian embassy kept updating them every hour through messages about when and what they are going to do in connection to the rescue operation.
"If somebody faced any problem regarding food or anything, they arranged it. We are very much thankful to Indian government and Indian embassy at Lebanon and Syria both places," he added.
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In seeing the suffering people from other countries were going through, Bhushan felt the efforts made by the Indian government were very good.
"We saw how people from other countries were suffering. We saw small children and women, how they were made to sit outside for over 10-12 hours in the 4-5 degree temperature. It was really horrible. But because of Indian government, we did not face any such kind of issue," Bhushan said.
Syrian rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) began their surprise offensive into the country on November 27 and subsequently took control of Damascus, ousting president Bashar al-Assad from Syria.
Bhushan described the present situation in Syria as "worst".
"There is widespread panic. People are firing in the open road, bombarding, looting the banks. They damaged the airport completely. They are damaging all the vehicles which are parked in the hotels and everywhere. So the situation is not good there. I would say that in coming few days, situation is going to be worse there," he added.
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The Ghaziabad resident was reportedly in Syria for business purposes. At the time, he said, the situation was okay there and then suddenly the uprising began.
"I was there for some business reasons. That time the situation was quite okay. Even our customer contacted the Indian embassy and said that things are okay there. But after 2-3 days, suddenly the things changed. So we were not expecting these kind of things," Bhushan told ANI.
A statement from the Indian embassy in Lebanon said that all 75 Indian nationals evacuated from Syria including 44 'Zaireen' from Jammu and Kashmir who were stranded at Saida Zainab reached Beirut on Wednesday.
Assad's 24-year-long was brought to an end last week, with Syrians rejoicing the moment.
