No contact, says family of Kottayam man stranded in Iran

Kottayam: The family of a Puthuppally native, who has been working in Iran for the past four years, said that they have lost contact with him following the breakout of the conflict in West Asia. 56-year-old Soney Antony's family said that he was stranded in the war-hit Iran and was seeking the help of Indian Embassy there to cross the border to Azerbaijan. Antony was working as a service engineer at a tea company in the port city of Chabahar. Antony's son Nevin told TOI that his father, along with four Sri Lankan nationals, moved to Tehran and then to the border close to Azerbaijan after bombs fell near his company. "I was not able to talk to my father over the phone, but he sent messages from the mobile phones of his Sri Lankan friends. From the messages, we understood that he was trying to cross the border to Azerbaijan. However, a border code is needed to enter Azerbaijan, and it has to be provided by Indian Embassy. Unfortunately, there was no response from the embassy," he said. Nevin added that the Sri Lankan nationals got the border code and will move out of Iran soon. Antony had booked tickets to go home on March 13 for the annual Ramzan holidays. "We informed Norka and passed the details. There were no updates so far," Nevin said.