Telugu tourists stranded in Bahrain recall ordeal after Iran-Israel war disrupts flights; urge Telangana and AP govt for help

Sixty-year-old Goneh Solomon Raj left Hyderabad with his six friends on a four-day holiday to Bahrain, little knowing that their stay would be abruptly extended in the shadow of the war in West Asia (Middle East), between US-Israel and Iran.

Like him, there are at least 100 other Telugu speaking people — many of them on tourist visas, who are now struck in the war-torn West Asia with little information about when the flights to different destinations would resume.

Israel-Iran war LIVE updates

“Our trip began on February 24 as we landed in Manama, filled with enthusiasm to explore the beaches of Manama and other places of interests. We had little inkling that things would turn for the worse as we reached the airport to board our return flight. Four passengers before us were handed over the boarding passes and as our turn came, the airline staff said they had been instructed to stop all check-ins,” Mr. Solomon Raj, who is a general secretary of Telangana United Pastors and Christians Association, told The Hindu from Manama on Monday (March 2, 2026) afternoon.

According to the stranded tourists, there was sudden air strikes on the U.S. Defence bases in Bahrain and sirens continued to blare. “We were completely shaken as the airport authorities asked all the passengers to vacate the premises and rush out and take shelter in safe places. We had checked out of the hotel and had no clue on how to handle the situation,” Mr. Solomon Raj said.

His friends, Vijaya Bhaskar Deverkonda, Paul Raju Kaligithi, Kanapala Vinnaiah and Benjamin Samuel Marpu and Prem Jonnakutti managed to speak to some Telugu expats in Manana, who are working there. “The Telugu expats went out of way to ensure that we were taken to a hotel in a residential area in Manama. We are now stuck in the hotel with little information coming in from the Indian Embassy on when the situation might calm down,” one of the person from the seven-member group said.

They said desperate, hapless and confused Telugu tourists ran from pillar to post in the airport pleading with the authorities to allow them inside the airport. “We later realised that all those, who managed to get the boarding passes, were told that air space over Middle East was closed for flights and they were turned back,”

The tourists lamented that the Indian Embassy in Bahrain was unable to give any proper response nor was the airline which was supposed to fly them taking any steps.

The stranded Indians have urged the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Governments to take steps to bring them back from the strife torn Middle East at the earliest.