7,086 incidents concerning Indians abroad in past year: Govt

New Delhi, March 4

There have been 7,086 cases of deaths of workers, imprisoned persons or other Indian nationals that have been reported by Indian missions or posts abroad during the past year, the government said on Wednesday.

Minister of State for External Affairs Gen (retd) V K Singh that the maximum number of such deaths occurred in Saudi Arabia (2427), followed by in the UAE (2513).

The number of Indians whose bodies are still lying in mortuaries of foreign countries was 111, with 98 of them being in Saudi Arabia, he said in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

In response to another question on attacks on Indians abroad, Singh said that there have been 56 incidents in which 88 people were attacked.

Citing figures of Indians been taken hostage abroad, Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj said there had been three such incidents in Afghanistan in the last three years. All five Indian hostages have been repatriated, she said. She said there was one incident in Australia in which two Indian were taken hostage and two such cases in Philippines, adding that the released of hostages have been secured in all cases.

Talking about the case in which 41 Indians working in a construction company in Mosul were taken hostage by the militant group ISIS in conflict-torn Iraq, the minister’s statement said that while one had escaped captivity, the others are yet to be released.

In Nigeria, all 48 persons has been kidnapped over past past three years have been released, as was the person who was held hostage in one incident in Sudan, the statement said. — PTI