Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said that the government is looking into all options for rescue of Indians stranded in Iraq.
The Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday confirmed that 17 more Indians had been evacuated from the violence-hit zone of Iraq.
Syed Akbaruddin, Spokesperson of MEA, addressing a press conference said that with the help of Iraq authorities 17 more Indians have been evacuated from the conflict zone. This has taken the total number of those rescued so far to 34.
However, while providing information on 39 Indians, who were abducted, Syed said that they are still in captivity, but are unharmed as per the information received by the MEA.
The government had on Monday said that over 120 Indians were stranded in the conflict zone in Iraq where Sunni insurgents have made rapid advances against the Iraqi authorities.
The MEA has set up 24x7 helpline numbers in Baghdad for all kinds of assistance to Indian nationals. The numbers are: 0096477044444899, 009647704843247.
It is understood that India is in touch with countries in the region like Saudi Arabia to urge them to assist in freeing the Indians in captivity.
The Indians, who belong mostly to Punjab and Haryana, were working in Mosul as construction workers, drivers or sanitary workers. They were abducted over a week ago by suspected ISIS militants who have overrun large parts of northern Iraq and taken over Mosul and Tikrit.
