A 50-year-old Melwyn from Uliya in Ullal, who was in Afghanistan, has returned home safely, even as the wait continues for the safe arrival of his brother Demsy, who has landed in Qatar from Kabul and is waiting for clearance to reach India.
Mr. Melwyn, who worked in a British firm doing electrical maintenance in the NATO military base hospital in Kabul, was among the seven civilians of those 160 airlifted and brought to the Air Force base in Jamnagar in Gujarat on Tuesday morning. He took a flight to New Delhi and from there reached Mangaluru on Wednesday evening.
Talking to reporters on Thursday, Mr. Melwyn said that he has been working with the British firm for the last 10 years. As the situation got worse in the last few days, many locals rushed to Kabul airport to fly to other countries. “The airport was filled with people and hence, aircraft could not land, which led to a delay of two days in us getting airlifted,” he said.
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Mr. Melwyn said that he was the only one from Mangaluru in the aircraft and the remaining six civilians, who also worked in the same firm, were from other States, including Andhra Pradesh and Delhi.
Mr. Melwyn said that he was among the 500 Indians living in Kabul. “Most of the Indians have been airlifted. Some have gone to other countries, including my brother Demsy, who has landed in Qatar. After finishing quarantine and other formalities, they will come to India,” he said.
Mr. Melwyn’s family members contacted Mangaluru MLA U.T. Khader to seek his intervention in getting safe passage for Mr. Melwyn and Mr. Demsy. Mr. Khader, in turn, wrote to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. The latter appointed Additional Director-General of Police Umesh Kumar as nodal officer for coordinating with the Ministry of External Affairs for bringing back Karnataka residents stuck in Afghanistan.
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Among those who are yet to be airlifted include Jesuit Jerome Sequeira, a resident of Siddakatte in Bantwal taluk, who is working since January with a non-government organisation Jesuit Refugee Services in Kabul. His brother Bernard Sequeira of Siddakatte told reporters that Jerome Sequeira called him on Tuesday to say that he is safe in Kabul. On Sunday, he failed to get a flight from Kabul airport and he returned back to a safe place in Kabul, Jerome Sequeira is said to have told his brother.
Mr. Khader said that except the family members of Mr. Melwyn, no other relatives or friends of those who might have been stranded in Afghanistan have contacted him seeking help.
‘I am safe’
Another 50-year-old Sister Theresa Crasta from Sisters of Charity in Mangaluru, who is serving as a nurse in a home for mentally challenged children in Kabul, has called the Provincial here that she is safe.
Sister Crasta was sent by Sisters of Charity three years ago to serve as a nurse in the home run by an organisation from Italy. She was staying along with Sisters from Pakistan. The home was close to the airport in Kabul and all the sisters have stayed put in the home, Sister Crasta is said to have told the Provincial.
Sister Crasta, a native of Kasaragod in Kerala, studied nursing in Fathers Muller’s College in Mangaluru. She was a Sister in a convent in Nelyadi in Dakshina Kannada district and also served in Prashant Nivas Ashram for Mentally Challenged in Jeppinamogaru in Mangaluru. Her two biological sisters too are serving as Sisters.