BOMBAY: After two days of uncertainty 304 Indians arrived here from the Jordanian port city of Aqaba by an Aeroflot flight organized by the international organisation of migration.
Some of them had been witness to bombardments and even aircraft being shot down.
Charan Singh who was working with a Construction company said he saw post offices flyovers and a refinery being destroyed by allied forces bombing.
He had been working at Basra and decided to leave on January 20 three days after the war broke out. The entire sky was lit up and there was continuous bombing of the port city. Scared he left with a few others for Baghdad and later tried to cross the border but was denied permission.
Singh said he huddled himself with some Iraqis in a camp terrified and wondering whether he would be able to leave the country alive.
Singh said he made four attempts to cross the Iraq-Jordan border but was denied permission. He stayed in a Red Cross camp for four days after crossing into Jordan and drove down 600 kms in a bus along with other Indians to Aqaba to catch the Bombay bound flight.
Anil Chopra also working in a construction company in Baghdad along with ten others left the Iraqi capital with baggage on January 12 to escape before the war broke out.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 8, 1991
