After being stuck in Iran for over a week due to the escalating conflict in the region, two Mumbai-based couples have finally contacted the Indian Embassy and are en route to a designated evacuation camp in Mashhad, near the Turkmenistan border.

So far, we are safe in Iran. We are just waiting for Iranian airspace to reopen. The internet is down, and communication is very limited. Messages aren’t being delivered,” was the last message Marshal Danavil managed to send mid-day on Saturday, June 14. Since then, the couples have only been able to send sporadic updates whenever they managed a weak internet or phone signal. They relayed their messages to friends and family, who in turn contacted mid-day.

“My son called me briefly on Thursday evening. He said they finally got in touch with the Indian Embassy and have been advised to travel to the Indian camp in Mashhad. They are currently trying to arrange transport from Kelardasht County near Abbasabad city, that’s over 800 km away from the camp,” said the father of one of the men. Joann Quadros and her husband, Marshal Danavil and another woman and her fiancé had travelled to Tehran to attend a wedding on June 11. What was meant to be a celebratory trip quickly turned into a nightmare as heavy bombing erupted in Iran that very night, following tensions with Israel.