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`The need for more flights will depend on the turn of events in the Gulf region. However, no airline has so far cancelled any service.'

KOCHI, March 20

THE first special flight operated by Air India carrying expats from Kuwait reached Cochin International Airport at Nedumbassery this evening.

The passengers, comprising 122 adults and 36 children, including 42 infants on AI Flight 5856, were received by the District Collector, Mr Gyanesh Kumar. The district administration has opened a control room to provide help to those returning home.

One more special flight from Kuwait was expected to reach Kochi at 9:45 pm today. Most of the passengers aboard the first flight were not carrying their baggage with them due to congestion at the Kuwait airport. Meanwhile, almost all airlines, domestic and foreign, operating from Kochi have equipped themselves to handle any emergency that might arise from the US-led war on Iraq.

Sources said that the need for more flights would depend on the turn of events in the Gulf region. However, no airline has so far cancelled any service.

Oman Air officials said that their services to Kochi would continue irrespective of the war. They said the airline would not have to do any major rerouting as it operates few flights to European destinations. Qatar Airways, the latest airline to operate from Kochi, is also to continue with its schedule.

SriLankan Airlines, which is scheduled to start operations from Kochi on April 22, has announced a contingency plan to deal with the situation.

UNI adds: The Non-Resident Keralites Affairs (Norka) Minister, Mr M.M. Hassan, has talked to the Air India Chairman, Mr Roy Paul, who has promised to operate the maximum number of special services to evacuate stranded Indians in Kuwait. The District Collectors have been directed to provide all assistance to those coming from Kuwait, Norka sources said.

They said they would request the Centre to give instructions to the embassies in the Middle East to respond to direct enquiries from Norka.

Mr Hasan, the Tourism Minister, Prof K.V. Thomas, and the Public Works Minister, Mr M.K. Muneer, are leaving for Delhi tomorrow to discuss with Central Ministers the evacuation of Indians from the war zone.

The Ministers had already held several rounds of discussions over the telephone with representatives of the Malayalee organisations in Kuwait.

Mr Hassan said the Centre would be requested to provide protective masks to the Indians through the Indian Embassies there, as the working class among the Indians might not be able to afford 50 Dinars for a mask.

The Ministerial sub-committee would request the Centre to create parallel set-ups to facilitate the Indian students in Kuwait to complete the ongoing CBSE examination. They would convey the general feeling of Kerala, irrespective of political affiliation, against the war against Iraq.

Mr Hasan said one control room each would function at the State Secretariat and at New Delhi to provide information to the relatives of Malayalee migrants in Kuwait numbering about 200,000.

Kuwait had a total Indian population of 400,000. The telephone number of the Kuwait cell at the Secretariat would be 2518129/ 2518182/ 2327192 (Fax) and the number of the cell in New Delhi would be 23011010/ 23011500/ 23012500.

The Minister said the situation this time was not as alarming as it was in the case of the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and that now the Indians in Kuwait were safer than on the earlier occasion. ``It is because of this that the number of Malayalee migrants wanting to leave Kuwait is less, when compared to 1990,'' he pointed out.

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