NEW DELHI: The route to reach India from Iran continued to be a journey of ups and downs for the Indian medical students from Iran. After finally managing to reach Dubai despite announcements of repeated flight cancellations, 80 students found themselves in a precarious situation after a drone attack near the Dubai International Airport.
The world’s busiest international airport was shut for most of Monday. Finally, their flight took off late evening from Dubai. They reached Delhi at 9.20 pm, nearly 12 hours behind schedule. It led to many of them missing their connecting flights to Srinagar scheduled. The students were supposed to reach Delhi’s IGI Airport at 9.55 am on Monday, after travelling from Yerevan airport in Armenia to Dubai.
The drone attack nearby caused a fire, which also spread to one of the airport’s fuel tanks, say reports. The airport announced it was shutting for operations, leading to Emirates, FlyDubai, IndiGo, Air India, Air India Express, and Spicejet announcing cancellation of all their flights.
National convenor of the J&K Students Association, Nasir Khuehami, who is in touch with the students, said, “The second leg of their flight from Dubai to Delhi was delayed due to operational disruptions caused by the drone incident at the airport. They are upset as most of them are from Srinagar and had booked connecting flights from Delhi to Srinagar.”
The Jammu and Kashmir government on Monday also cancelled the free bus service provided to them on Sunday from Delhi to Srinagar, as very few students had opted for it and made personal arrangements to fly or use private buses.
Meanwhile, nearly 200 students are presently stuck in the border between Iran and Azerbaijan, as they have not got visas to enter Azerbaijan. “They are staying in hotels on the Iran side, waiting to get visas. We need the Indian embassy to help them,” said Mohammed Momin Khan, vice president of the All India Medical Students Union.
Meanwhile, the Dubai Civil Aviation Airport has announced that that no foreign airline will be allowed to land at its airport. Indian carriers like Indigo, Spicejet, Air India and Air India Express have announced cancellations of their operations to and from Dubai. An Air India statement specified operations from Jeddah and Muscat wihtout mention of Dubai but a source confirmed cancellations.
Dubai airport announces ban on foreign airlines
The Dubai Civil Aviation Airport has announced that that no foreign airline will be allowed to land at its airport. Indian carriers like Indigo, Spicejet, Air India and Air India Express have announced cancellations of their operations to and from Dubai.