Special flight hope for Kol families as nations pummel each other in W Asia

Kolkata: News of resumption of some cargo and repatriation flights from Abu Dhabi has given a fresh lease of hope to hundreds of people from Kolkata and the rest of India who hope to return home, even as there is no confirmation yet on the resumption of normal flight operations in West Asia amid the current situation."The situation is not at all stable here in Abu Dhabi. We are lodged in a hotel, but we can still hear sounds of bombing outside. We are not sure how far it is from our hotel, but everyone here is very tense. If evacuation and repatriation flights start, we would appeal to the embassy to help us return home, as there is no certainty about when normal aircraft movement will resume," said Upasana Sinha, who is currently staying in a hotel with two friends.
Equally worried is Park Street resident Manisha Santaney (57), who is stranded in Dubai with her daughter Meghna. "We were in Dubai on a holiday. We arrived here on Feb 26 and our return flights were scheduled for Tuesday. While I was to return to Kolkata, my daughter was to head back to her current home in Vancouver, Canada. Both our flights were cancelled as the airport is shut. So far, we are safe in our guest house, but we would love to leave the city and return to the safety of our homes at the earliest," said Manisha, a homemaker.Priyadarshini Hakim, daughter of Bengal minister and Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim, who is currently stranded in Mecca with her mother Ismat Hakim and daughter Aayat, is also praying for a safe return home."We are staying on the mosque premises, where it is comparatively safe. The entire area is cordoned off by the army and restrictions on movement are imposed. We have our return flight to Kolkata booked for Wednesday, but the way the situation is unfolding, I do not think our flight will operate that day. We started contacting the embassy and are also exploring possible routes via Jeddah to return home," she said. "If I was on a holiday, I would surely panic. But now I am at Allah's home and have surrendered myself to His mercy."Some families, however, are extremely worried. Subhajit Bandyopadhyay, a resident of Raiganj in North Dinajpur, who was in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for work, last spoke to his family on Saturday. Since then, his phone has been unreachable. He was scheduled to return to India on March 2, but his family has no information about his travel as several flights were cancelled. Bandyopadhyay went to Saudi Arabia for work 11 months ago.His wife, Moumita, said, "On Saturday, he spoke about a red alert in his area and bombing in the neighbouring state. The Saudi govt restricted movement. Since then, we have not been able to contact him." The family — comprising his mother, wife and two sons — is praying for his safe return.Electrical engineer Saibal Basu from Joynagar, who works in Doha, said missiles were fired even on Monday morning. "Since Sunday evening, the situation had been peaceful. But we woke up to the sound of missiles at 8.05 am. There were at least four missile strikes near a US military base, and alerts were immediately sent to our cellphones by the govt asking us not to step out of our homes. The situation is scary here," Basu said.(With inputs from Subhro Maitra from Malda)