1990 Airlift of Indians From Kuwait was truly a remarkable effort by Indian Government. All Politicians, Volunteers and especially Air India Officers and Team Members deserves a lot of credit for saving and evacuating More than 1 Lakh 50 Thousand People From war zone.
Here are some important facts about the incident on which Akshay Kumar’s Airlift is based on.
10 Facts About 1990 Airlift Of Indians From Kuwait
1. The 1990 airlift of Indians from Kuwait was carried out from 14 August to 11 October 1990.
2. When Saddam Hussain Ruled Iraq invade Kuwait and ruled the country for 7 Months, more than 170,000 Indians were stranded on Kuwait land who became homeless within two days.
3. The invasion started on 1 August 1990, and within two days of most of the Kuwait Armed Forces were either overrun by the Iraqi Republican Guard or fell back to neighboring Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
Saddam Hussein announced a few days later that it was the 19th province of Iraq.
4. Many Nations started efforts to rescue their people from the war zone including India.
5. Initial efforts were made by the government of India to evacuate nationals by military aircraft. But, due to difficulties in air-space clearances the switch was made to civilian aircraft.
6. India Foreign Minister at that time went to Kuwait at that sensitive time which resulted in Iraq agreeing to tacitly permit the Indian evacuation efforts. Air India’s efforts were coordinated by MP Mascarenhas based in Kuwait.
7. Evacuation started on on 13 August 1990 and finished on 11 October 1990.
8. In 59 Days a total of 170,000 people were evacuated to Mumbai – a distance of 4,117 km, by operating 488 flights in association with Indian Airlines.
9. It is believed to be the largest civilian evacuation in history by a far distance.
10. Air India holds the Guinness Book of World Records for the most people evacuated by a civil airline as a result of this effort.
Airlift Of Indians From Kuwait in 1990 is definitely one of the proudest moment. Share this story with as much Indians as possible.
