Butwal, April 2: The bodies of nine Nepali nationals, along with 318 stranded Nepali workers in Kuwait, were brought to Nepal on Wednesday evening amid escalating tensions in West Asia. Four of the deceased are women.
The bodies were repatriated via a chartered flight operated by Kuwait Airways. According to the Foreign Employment Board, the deceased have been identified as Ramesh Kumar Mochi of Siraha, Khusi Ram Chaudhary of Dang, Samjhana Gole of Sindhupalchok, Kopila Dhami of Udayapur, Basanta Rai of Khotang, Yamuna Sunar of Surkhet, Krishna Ramja Budha of Salyan, Manju Moktan Pakhrin of Sindhuli, and Ramesh Nepali of Kaski.
Shyam Kishor Sah, General Manager of Gautam Buddha International Airport, said arrangements have been made to deliver the bodies to the respective families from the airport.
In addition, 318 Nepali nationals stranded in Kuwait due to the ongoing conflict were also evacuated on the same chartered flight.
Binod Singh Rawat, Information Officer at the Bhairahawa airport office, confirmed that a Kuwait Airways Boeing 777-300 wide-body aircraft landed at Gautam Buddha International Airport carrying the evacuees.
Although the aircraft was initially scheduled to land in Bhairahawa at 4:45 pm, it arrived at around 7:30 pm. Rawat said that due to the tense situation in West Asia, regular flights had been disrupted, prompting authorities to arrange rescue flights prioritising stranded Nepali citizens.
He further added that the evacuation of Nepali nationals was carried out in coordination with the Nepali Embassy in Kuwait.
Air travel in West Asia has been severely affected following a series of attacks that began on February 28, when the United States and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran. This was followed by retaliatory attacks by Iran targeting Kuwait, as well as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman. Kuwait International Airport was also temporarily closed, disrupting rescue operations and the repatriation of bodies. #nepal #kuwait #evacuation
