Second Air India flight with 237 Indians lands at IGI airport

A second Air India flight with 237 Indians from Libya landed early today at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in Delhi, taking the total number of evacuees from the troubled North African country to 528.

The Airbus 330 had left the Libyan capital at 8.30pm (Indian time) for New Delhi.

The first batch of 291 people from Tripoli landed in Delhi late last night in an Air India flight, which touched down at the IGI airport after a nearly eight-hour flight from the Libyan capital.

Minister of state for external affairs E Aahmed and foreign secretary Nirupama Rao had received the passengers who were helped by resident commissioners of 12 states, including Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and officials of external affairs and overseas affairs ministries at the T2 International terminal.

Apart from these, 15 corporate houses, which have their units in Libya, have been asked to help the arriving Indian nationals, the officials said, adding adequate number of buses and taxis have been made available.

The total number of Indians in Libya is estimated to be 18,000.

The ministry of external affairs and Delhi International Airport Limited made arrangements for the arriving passengers in the in-operational Terminal 2.

Telephone facilities and railway reservation counters, apart from Balmer-Laurie counter for booking in Air India flight for onward journey, have been set up in the terminal.

In order to help the traumatised people, who are coming back from civil war-like situation, doctors have been available to counsel the evacuees.