Teary-eyed relatives and friends waited for hours in the heat outside the airport here on Monday as the mortal remains of 38 Indians, killed by the Islamic State in Iraq’s Mosul in 2014, arrived here on a special IAF aircraft.
A pall of gloom descended at the airport complex here as 31 coffins carrying the mortal remains of men from Punjab and Himachal Pradesh were brought out of the airport building to be taken to their native places in specially arranged ambulances.
The coffins of seven other victims, hailing from Bihar and West Bengal, were taken in another IAF aircraft to Patna and Kolkata.
Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh accompanied the mortal remains to Amritsar from Mosul. “We are thankful to the authorities in Iraq for the help (they rendered) to locate the victims and exhume the mortal remains. The government of India did its best to locate these people. It is unfortunate that we had to get them back in coffins,” he told the media.
Although 39 Indians were killed as the Islamic State took over Mosul in June 2014, the mortal remains of 38 were brought back as the identification of one body is still pending.
While the coffins of 31 victims — 27 from Punjab and four from Himachal Pradesh — were handed over to the respective authorities at the Amritsar airport here, seven coffins were shifted to another aircraft to be flown to West Bengal (3) and Bihar (4).