Indian National Killed in Riyadh; India Reports 913 Crossings From Iran, 3 Lakh Returns
Indian officials on Friday stated that nearly 300,000 passengers have returned from West Asia since February 28, 913 Indian nationals have crossed from Iran into Armenia and Azerbaijan with embassy assistance, and 22 Indian-flagged vessels carrying 611 Indian seafarers remain safe in the Persian Gulf. These developments have emerged as New Delhi responded to a fresh Indian death in Riyadh, tightened aviation risk advisories, and expanded its multi-ministerial effort to manage the widening fallout of the Iran war across energy, shipping and civilian movement.
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| Petroleum Secretary Sujata Sharma; Screengrab Via: TBS World Now on X |
The death in Riyadh adds to a growing human toll for India in a conflict that is increasingly hitting civilians, seafarers, stranded travellers and supply chains at the same time.
At the briefing, Additional Secretary (Gulf) Aseem R. Mahajan said the ministry had received information late Wednesday night regarding “the tragic demise of an Indian national during an attack in Riyadh on 18th March” and was coordinating with Saudi authorities “for the early return of mortal remains to India.” He said six Indian nationals have now lost their lives and one remains missing in various incidents, with Indian missions in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iraq and the UAE staying in regular contact with relevant authorities.
Mahajan said the ministry’s “focus of our efforts has been to ensure the safety, security and welfare of the large Indian community in the region,” with a dedicated MEA special control room continuing to operate and missions across the Gulf and West Asia working around the clock. He said that since February 28, around 300,000 passengers have returned from the region to India, with flight operations “continu[ing] to improve” despite restrictions in some countries. About 90 flights were expected to operate from the UAE to India on Friday, he said, while flights were continuing from Oman and Saudi Arabia.
With Qatar’s airspace only partially open, Qatar Airways was expected to operate 10 non-scheduled commercial flights to India. Kuwait’s airspace remained closed, but Jazeera Airways was due to begin special non-scheduled flights from Al-Qaisumah International Airport in Saudi Arabia, with the first service to Kochi scheduled for Friday. Bahrain’s airspace also remained closed, though Gulf Air continued operating special flights from Dammam in Saudi Arabia.
The overland evacuation numbers also rose sharply. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the figure he had given the previous day had increased and that 913 Indian citizens had now crossed from Iran into Armenia and Azerbaijan “with the help of the embassy.”
He added that all 284 Indian pilgrims who had been stranded there had now returned to India. Mahajan said India continued to facilitate travel for nationals leaving Iran through Armenia and Azerbaijan and was also helping Indians leave Israel via Jordan.
On the maritime front, Special Secretary Rajesh Kumar Sinha said there had been “no report of any maritime incident in the last 24 hours,” that all 22 ships and 611 Indian sailors in the Persian Gulf region are safe,” and that the Directorate General of Shipping was “continuously monitoring them.” He said the 24x7 helpline, communication centre and control room had received roughly 125 calls and more than 200 emails in the past 24 hours, and that 25 Indian seafarers had been repatriated and brought back to India after signing off with assistance from Indian missions.
Sinha said there was “no congestion in any port,” repeating that both major and non-major ports remained operational, with state maritime boards reporting no congestion either. He also announced that New Mangalore Port had issued a circular waiving “all cargo related charges for crude and LPG,” valid from March 14 to March 31, and had also provided waiver of ground and reefer charges for stranded export containers. He said the port had earmarked about 3,000 square metres of additional covered shed space and 76,000 square metres of open yard space for extra storage capacity. The ministry, he said, continued to “closely monitor the shipping movements, port operations, safety of Indian seafarers and continuity of maritime trade in view of the evolving situation in the West Asia.”
Sinha also clarified that the two Indian-flagged container vessels east of Hormuz remained on normal course with no issue reported. He said CMA CGM Victoria was at Sohar, Oman, from where it was to head to Jawaharlal Nehru Port, while SSL Godavari was east of Hormuz and bound next for Khor Fakkan, not India. He stressed that the 25 figure referred to seafarers who had signed off, not ships.
On aviation, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation published a press note clarifying its safety advisory regarding risk to civil aviation in Middle East and Persian Gulf airspace. The DGCA said it had issued a series of recommendations for Indian operators concerning flight operations in the region and had now released six safety advisories in total, dated 28 February, 1 March, 2 March, 6 March, 11 March and 19 March 2026.
It said all Indian operators had been “strictly advised to conduct a comprehensive Safety Risk Assessment prior to continuing operations to or through the Middle East,” and that the advisories were based on periodic safety assessments and advisories issued by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The regulator stressed that these recommendations were “advisory in nature” and did not amount to a formal restriction or prohibition on airlines operating in the specified zones.
India’s energy response remained defensive and calibrated, with officials insisting there had been no cut to domestic supply even though the situation remained “concerning.” Petroleum Secretary Sujata Sharma said all refineries were operating at the “highest capacity” with adequate crude inventories, that domestic LPG production had been stepped up, and that additional 10% LPG allocation had been linked to state support for city gas distribution expansion.
Sharma said over 13,700 new connections had been provided in the top 15 geographical areas, and around 75,000 consumers had shifted from LPG to PNG. While online bookings were now about 93%, panic booking had reduced significantly, with roughly 55 lakh refill booking requests received the previous day. She said there had been no dry-out at distributors and cylinder deliveries remained normal, though commercial supply continued to face pressure and had been rationalised to protect households.
The official said 18 states and Union Territories had issued allocation orders for commercial LPG, with around 11,300 tonnes supplied to consumers over the previous week, and that educational institutions and hospitals had received about 50% of that allocation. 15 states and Union Territories had issued kerosene allocation orders. She added that 32 states and Union Territories had set up control rooms and district monitoring committees, while more than 4,500 raids had been conducted nationwide the previous day, including roughly 1,100 in Uttar Pradesh, as authorities sought to curb hoarding, diversion and black marketing. Oil marketing companies had also carried out around 1,800 surprise inspections.
Sharma repeated that “the situation is still concerning” but emphasized that “domestic supply [is] as usual” and there had been no cut in household LPG supply. Commercial cylinders were the area where “there is an issue,” she said, explaining that supply had been reduced there in order to strengthen household delivery. “We still require certain imports,” she said, adding that India’s position was not yet self-sustaining despite the increase in domestic output. She also reaffirmed that diversification efforts were under way in crude, LPG and LNG, though she said sourcing decisions were commercial and she could not disclose from whom cargoes were being taken. Asked about the impact of Qatar’s damaged capacity, she said: “Qatar ki capacity hit hui hai. Isse hum bhi hit honge.” — Qatar’s capacity has been hit; “we too will be hit by it.”
She also clarified that there had been no increase in regular petrol prices, only in a premium category that accounts for a small share of overall petrol sales. Petrol and diesel pricing, she said, had been deregulated years ago and was determined by oil marketing companies, not directly regulated by the government. On jet fuel and a possible waiver for Iranian oil, she said those were either deregulated or hypothetical matters and she could not comment further.
On diplomacy, Jaiswal said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had spoken on Thursday to five world leaders — from Oman, Malaysia, France, Jordan and Qatar — and had used those conversations to put forward India’s position on the conflict, highlight the need to prioritise dialogue and diplomacy for de-escalation, strongly condemn attacks on energy infrastructure, and reaffirm support for “safe and free navigation” through the Strait of Hormuz. He said Modi had thanked Oman, Jordan and Qatar for support extended to Indian nationals and reiterated India’s condemnation of violations of Oman’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Jaiswal also said India’s position on freedom of navigation remained consistent whether in the Strait of Hormuz or any other maritime route. “For us and for the world it is very important,” he said, noting that India had 22 ships in the region and that “a very large amount of the world’s fuel supply” passes through the Gulf. He said this was why India had put “special emphasis” on the issue and why Modi had raised it in multiple conversations with world leaders. Asked whether India was joining any joint strategy to ensure freedom of navigation, he did not announce any operational step, saying only that discussions were under way because the issue was important “not only for us, for the world.”
He also said India continued talking to multiple countries at different levels, including earlier conversations between Modi and Israel’s prime minister, and separate engagement with the UAE minister of state for international cooperation, where the welfare of the large Indian community and the ongoing West Asia situation were discussed. On BRICS, Jaiswal said consensus remained difficult because several BRICS members were directly connected to the conflict and India was continuing consultations with all of them.
The briefing showed India is trying to hold together evacuating and routing stranded nationals through an increasingly fragmented airspace map; safeguarding Indian ships and seafarers in waters shadowed by the Hormuz crisis; keeping domestic LPG, aviation and fuel systems stable under pressure; and sustaining a diplomatic line centred on de-escalation, energy security and free navigation.
The newest data point, 300,000 returnees, 913 crossings from Iran, one more Indian death in Riyadh, and no maritime incident in 24 hours, captured both the scale of the crisis and the extent to which India now sees the Iran war as a direct test of consular reach, transport resilience and energy security.
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