“Thankful to Indian government,” says man evacuated from Syria

With Indian nationals who were evacuated from Syria returned to India, a Ghaziabad resident recounted horrors of the Syrian uprising.

Ravi Bhushan, the first Indian national out of 75 to return has recounted the Indian embassy efforts to help them get back to India.

“India has started a rescue operation and we are the first team who rescued from Syria. The best part is that they contacted each and everyone. They were even motivating them and asking them if they were okay. The Syrian embassy was updating us through messages every hour about when and what they are going to do with regards to rescue operation. If somebody faced any problem regarding food or anything, they arranged it. We are very much thankful to Indian government and Indian embassy at Lebanon and Syria both places,” Bhushan told ANI.

Bhushan said that on seeing how the people from other countries were suffering, he felt that the efforts by the Indian government was very good.

“We saw how people from other countries were suffering. We saw small children and women, how they were made to sit outside for over 10-12 hours in the 4-5 degree temperature. It was really horrible. But because of Indian government, we did not face any such kind of issue,” he told ANI.

Bhushan futher told ANI that the situation in Syria was very bad. People are firing each other everywhere.

“At present, the situation in Syria is worst. There is widespread panic. People are firing in the open road, bombarding, looting the banks. They damaged the airport completely. They are damaging all the vehicles which are parked in the hotels and everywhere. So the situation is not good there. I would say that in coming few days, situation is going to be worse there,” he said.

Bhushan told ANI that he went to Syria for a few days for some business meeting. The situation was okay then, and the uprising started suddenly.

“I was there for some business reasons. That time the situation was quite okay. Even our customer contacted the Indian embassy and said that things are okay there. But after 2-3 days, suddenly the things changed. So we were not expecting these kind of things,” he said.

All 75 Indian nationals evacuated from Syria including 44 ‘Zaireen’ from Jammu and Kashmir who were stranded at Saida Zainab, reached Beirut on Wednesday, a statement by the Indian embassy in Lebanon said.

The situation in Syria remains a focal point after Syrian rebels on Sunday entered Damascus, forcing President Bashar al-Assad to flee from the country, ending his over two-decade rule in the country.