BENGALURU: Eighteen Kannadigas who were stranded in Israel amid the ongoing conflict in the region returned safely to Bengaluru on Thursday evening.
They met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at his residence on Friday. The group, part of an 18-member delegation from the Bengaluru Political Action Committee (B.PAC), had travelled to Israel on a study tour from June 7 to 13. The visit was co-hosted by the Ministry of External Affairs.
However, they were stranded due to the escalating war-like situation between Israel and Iran for a week. The delegation flew from Jordan to Mumbai on Wednesday night and reached Bengaluru at around 5.30 pm on Thursday.
According to the Deputy Chairperson of the Non-Resident Indian (NRI) Forum, Government of Karnataka, over 150 people from Karnataka who were stranded in Iran have been evacuated to a safe location and are expected to return to Bengaluru on Saturday or Sunday.
Flight arrangements are currently underway to bring them back and are returning to India batch-wise, she said.