Many passengers who were stranded in several countries of the war-ravaged West Asia returned to India on Tuesday after a few national and international carriers carried out some special flights to bring them back.

Passengers arriving in Delhi recounted moments of intense fear and trauma, describing how the sounds of attacks left them shaken.

Air India brought back stranded passengers from Dubai on a flight landing at the Delhi airport on Tuesday morning, ferrying a total of 149 passengers.

This was the first flight operated by an Indian carrier for the homecoming of passengers amid the ongoing situation in West Asia.

Earlier in the morning, 143 cockpit and cabin crew members of Air India and Air India Express who were stranded in Dubai safely arrived back in Delhi on another flight.

Oman Air, Saudia and Emirates also operated flights to the national capital, carrying many stranded passengers.

Oman Air’s Muscat-Delhi flight landed in Delhi at 1:30pm, Saudia’s Riyadh-Delhi flight landed around 5pm, while Emirates’ Dubai-Delhi flight landed at 2:40am.

Many passengers expressed sighs of relief after returning to the country while sharing a terrifying ordeal of uncertainty after being stuck in the Gulf countries.

“I saw missiles being intercepted in the sky. I heard loud explosions and saw smoke. It was frightening,” Piyush, who was stuck in Dubai, told reporters. He returned to Delhi on Tuesday afternoon.

Piyush was going to London for his honeymoon. He and his wife were taking separate flights, and his wife
could not leave the country because the war had already broken out. He had got stuck in Dubai because of a three-hour layover. The situation
turned tense when he landed there.

Piyush, who had tied the knot on February 14, was welcomed by his mother and wife at the Delhi airport after returning from Muscat via an Oman Airways flight.

After being stuck in Dubai, Piyush decided not to wait and chose an alternative route. He travelled by road from Dubai to the Hatta border, crossed into Oman, and from there managed to secure a flight back to India.

Other passengers said the journey was tough, although the situation in the Gulf countries was normal.

One passenger complained of facing financial issues due to continuous flight cancellations, and staying there was very expensive.