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| Airlift of Indians from Kuwait | |
|---|---|
| Part ofInvasion of Kuwait and theGulf War | |
 Map of Kuwait | |
| Type | Emergency evacuation |
| Location | Kuwait |
| Planned by | Ministry of External Affairs |
| Objective | Humanitarian relief |
| Date | 13 August 1990 (1990-08-13) - 20 October 1990 (1990-10-20) |
| Executed by | Air India,Indian Airlines,Indian Air Force |
| Outcome | More than 170,000 Indian citizens evacuated. |
The1990 airlift of Indians from Kuwait was carried out from August 13, 1990, to October 20, 1990, after theIraqi invasion of Kuwait.Air India helped evacuate 170,000 people by civil airline. The operation was carried out before thePersian Gulf War in 1990 to evacuate Indian migrant workers fromKuwait.Foreign MinisterI.K. Gujral was instrumental in gettingIraq to co-operate on these efforts.[1] Following this operation,Air India, the flag carrier of India, entered theGuinness Book of World Records for the most people evacuated by a civil airliner.[2][1][3][4]Mathunny Mathews,Harbajan Singh Vedi, Abey Varicad, N.V.K. Warrier, Ali Hussain, Narinder Singh Sethi, and few others based in Kuwait helped immensely in the evacuation efforts of fellow Indians.[5]
The invasion ofKuwait started on August 2, 1990, and within two days of combat, most of theKuwaiti Armed Forces were either overrun by theIraqi Republican Guard or fell back toSaudi Arabia andBahrain. The Emirate of Kuwait was annexed, andSaddam Hussein announced a few days later that it wasthe 19th province of Iraq. More than 170,000 Indians were stranded on Kuwaiti soil.
Initial efforts were made by theGovernment of India to evacuate nationals by military aircraft. However, due to difficulties in air-space clearances the switch was made to civilian aircraft.India had initially requested permission to evacuate its citizens byAir India but the request was not approved by theUN and the government of Kuwait in exile. India was required to use planes supplied to them under the UN banner. Complications arose due to the significantly higher number of nationals requiring evacuation, a lack of travel documents and poor communications. The airlift was completed before the start ofOperation Desert Storm. About 170,000 people were evacuated (airlifted) fromAmman, Jordan, toBombay – a distance of 4,117 km (2558 mi) – by Air India, operating 488 flights in association withIndian Airlines, from August 18, 1990, to October 20, 1990 – lasting 63 days.
Buses were also used after winningBaghdad's approval to ferry Indians throughBasra andBaghdad toAmman inJordan.
The event was the basis for the 2016 filmAirlift starringAkshay Kumar, who played a character inspired by the works ofMathunny Mathews,Harbajan Singh Vedi, Abey Varicad, NVK Warrier, Ali Hussain and many others.
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