DNA
 
Dubai, Jul 17: About 15 Indian tourists who were stranded in Beirut have fled the city taking the highway to the Syrian border so as to escape the bombardment by Israeli gun ships.

But the 13,000 Indian expatriate workers who are spread out across Lebanon have shown resilience and have not shown any signs of panic. “The Indian visitors from nearby countries like the UAE who have come to Beirut have approached us for help. We advise them to leave in groups for Syria from where they can take a flight back home,” the Indian Ambassador to Lebanon Ms Nengcha Lhovum told DNA on phone from Beirut.

“One or two Indian visitors have decided to stay back and see how things develop. Our advice to visitors is to leave as early as possible and the situation has been deteriorating. We are located near the marine drive and yesterday I saw the light house take a hit from the air three times. It is not very comforting,” Lhovum who is from Manipur said. The airport is destroyed and will take months to be operational.

However, there are about 13,000 Indian expatriate workers employed by factories and various outlets in the country. They have been here since the civil war two decades ago and they have not shown any indications of leaving, she said. The Syrian border is two hours away by road and as people flee by road there are miles of miles vehicles creating a traffic jam.

“We have got in touch with the Syrian immigration authorities through their counterparts here so that the Indians get visa at the border to get in. After that they have more options to leave for home,” the ambassador said. There are seven families of diplomats at the embassy. For now there is no decision to evacuate but the situation is being reviewed hour by hour.

“The Israelis have hit food stores also and so sometimes there is a shortage of essential items. But there are logistic problems of leaving by road,” she said.

Some 2,200 UAE nationals who were trapped in Lebanon were airlifted yesterday from Damascus via an air bridge of six flights a day. France which has historical ties with Lebanon has around 20,000 nationals living there and is mobilising military planes and ships to evacuate them.