An evacuee at the city airport on Thursday. Picture by Amit Datta

The exodus from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands continued on Thursday, with tourists scrambling for a chance to return home.

Passengers landing in Calcutta heaved a sigh of relief as familiar faces greeted them at the airport.

?Everyone in Port Blair is trying to get out as soon as possible, but flights are limited,? said Tanveer Singh, as he arrived at the domestic terminal.

Three Indian Airlines flights brought 149 passengers from Port Blair, mostly residents of the tsunami-swept Car Nicobar, and the air force evacuated 79 people, mostly women and children, on Thursday.

A team of Border Security Force (BSF) personnel, including a doctor, from the 106 Battalion left for the disaster zone on Thursday to join the rescue operations.

Along with joys, there was despair at the airport, as several of the stranded victims had failed to return.

?My brother-in-law, Swapan Bhakta, ran a fishing business in Port Blair. He managed to call us yesterday at 8 pm and said he would return with his family today. But they have not,? lamented Babla Sarkar, of Dum Dum. ?I?ll come again tomorrow.?

In an effort to lessen the anxiety of relatives and family members of those stranded, the Very High Frequency (VHF) Amateur Radio Society has set up a control room in Calcutta and a base station in Car Nicobar.

?No communication channels are open in Car Nicobar, which seems to be the worst-hit of the islands. Many people are stranded, waiting for a flight back home, but their relatives have not heard from them since Sunday,? said Arya Ghosh, society secretary.

?By setting up a VHF link, we will be able to know the exact condition of the victims and when they are likely to return. Distressed families can dial our control room (24603433) and we will do our best to establish contact with their kin stranded in Car Nicobar,? he added.

An Indian Airline spokesperson said six flights would be operated from Calcutta on Friday, of which two will be cargo flights carrying relief material to Port Blair.

Six more flights will carry paramilitary forces from Chennai to Port Blair to assist the rescue operations.

The spokesperson added that 3,000 people have been evacuated from Port Blair since Sunday, and more than 60 tonnes of relief material have been airlifted there.