NEDUMBASSERY: Six Malayalis were among the first batch of about 600 Indians evacuated by Air-India from war-torn Lebanon, official airline sources informed the Cochin International Airport on Friday evening.

The Malayalis would be among the 254 evacuees to be brought back to the country by a special flight of Air-India, which is expected to land in Mumbai at 11 p.m., said Aby George, Public Relations Executive of the airline at the Cochin International Airport.

According to information received here, three persons are from Kochi and three from Thiruvananthapuram, he said.

Those bound for Kochi are expected to come by the early morning flight, AI 690, from Mumbai, scheduled to arrive here at 2.45 a.m.

He dismissed reports suggesting that the evacuees may be sent home by train and ensured that Air-India would provide air connectivity.

Meanwhile, a help desk set up at the Cochin International Airport for Malayalis returning from Lebanon began functioning on Friday evening.

The desk will be manned round the clock by at least two staff of the district administration.

N.V. Reghu, Tahsildar RR, Aluva and V.V. Lassar, Additional Tahsildar, are in charge of the help desk.

"We have made arrangements for the functioning of the help desk, as instructed by the district administration," Airport Director A.C.K. Nair said.

All agencies at the airport have been directed to extend all possible assistance to the help desk.

Air-India deployed two Boeing 747-400s with a seating capacity of 423 seats each to bring home the evacuees, a release issued from the airline headquarters in Mumbai said.

The aircraft took off from Mumbai in the early hours of Friday for Larnaca in Cyprus, where the evacuees were to be brought by ships of Indian Navy. According to the release, the second flight carrying 350 evacuees to Chennai would land at 11.30 p.m. on Friday.

Though both the aircraft had been in Larnaca since Friday morning, they had to wait for the arrival of ships carrying the evacuees, the release quoted the airline spokesman.

He expressed the willingness of the airline to operate more special flights in the coming days if so demanded by the Union Government.

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