31 Andhra men stranded in Iraq to return home after 3-months

HYDERABAD: The trapped men from across Telangana, who were trapped in war-torn Iraq for nearly three months, landed in New Delhi early Monday morning and will finally reach their native places on Tuesday.

The 31 men were tricked by a travel agent who provided them with 15-day visas, and promised to provide them with work permits after the validity got over.

He charged them Rs 1.3 lakhs but absconded soon after. They soon found themselves on the road in temperatures below -5 degrees with a war raging around them. To sustain themselves the men found work at construction firms aiding the coalition war against ISIS at Erbil in Iraq.Both the state and central government worked together to get the men back from the unsafe working conditions they were exposed to.

"The men are from poor families and they got robbed by the agent, they will be meeting KT Rama Rao, State minister for Information Technology on Wednesday. The minister took an active role in ensuring their safe return," said P Basanth Reddy, spokesperson for Gulf Telangana Welfare and Cultural Association.

The Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) brought the plight of the 31 men to the attention of the minister who then took up the issue with the central government, he added.

At the behest of the central government, the Indian consulate at Iraq stepped in and helped to bring the stranded men back to India.