As missile exchanges and shipping threats roil the Gulf, India on 11 May unveiled a multi-agency control room inside the Ministry of External Affairs dedicated to the safety of more than nine million Indian citizens across West Asia. Additional Secretary Aseem R. Mahajan told reporters the helpline has fielded nearly 20,000 e-mails and 8,800 phone calls since activation, coordinating closely with embassies, airlines and state governments. Officials confirmed that 2,549 Indian nationals have already left Iran via land borders in the past week, while a further 3,096 Indian seafarers have been rotated out of high-risk Gulf waters with assistance from the Director-General of Shipping.
![India Activates 24/7 ‘War Room’ and Repatriates 2,500+ Nationals as West Asia Crisis Escalates]()
Meanwhile, travelers scrambling to update passports, secure replacement visas or arrange alternative routing can tap VisaHQ’s digital platform, which streamlines document preparation and offers real-time status tracking for over 200 destinations. The India portal (https://www.visahq.com/india/) also provides expedited processing options that may prove invaluable if embassies curtail hours or courier services are disrupted.
Commercial flights are gradually resuming through UAE, Saudi and Qatar airspace, but the MEA continues to advise against all travel to Iran and recommends deferring non-essential trips to Iraq and Israel. For corporate mobility teams, the ‘war room’ provides a single escalation point for tracking assignee locations, updating evacuation plans and securing replacement travel documents. Airlines have been asked to give priority re-booking to Indian passport-holders registered through embassy portals—a reminder to HR departments to ensure mobile staff sign up for the mission-level registration schemes. Maritime employers take note: although there have been no attacks on Indian-flag vessels in the past three days, insurance surcharges for transiting the Strait of Hormuz jumped 12 percent this week. Companies may need to re-route cargo via the Red Sea or secure additional rider policies to avoid crew-change delays. The MEA stressed that advisories will be reviewed “hour-to-hour”. Mobility managers should therefore monitor the ministry’s dedicated Gulf-crisis page and subscribe to SMS alerts, as border closures or sudden airspace bans can upend itineraries with little notice.
Meanwhile, travelers scrambling to update passports, secure replacement visas or arrange alternative routing can tap VisaHQ’s digital platform, which streamlines document preparation and offers real-time status tracking for over 200 destinations. The India portal (https://www.visahq.com/india/) also provides expedited processing options that may prove invaluable if embassies curtail hours or courier services are disrupted.
Commercial flights are gradually resuming through UAE, Saudi and Qatar airspace, but the MEA continues to advise against all travel to Iran and recommends deferring non-essential trips to Iraq and Israel. For corporate mobility teams, the ‘war room’ provides a single escalation point for tracking assignee locations, updating evacuation plans and securing replacement travel documents. Airlines have been asked to give priority re-booking to Indian passport-holders registered through embassy portals—a reminder to HR departments to ensure mobile staff sign up for the mission-level registration schemes. Maritime employers take note: although there have been no attacks on Indian-flag vessels in the past three days, insurance surcharges for transiting the Strait of Hormuz jumped 12 percent this week. Companies may need to re-route cargo via the Red Sea or secure additional rider policies to avoid crew-change delays. The MEA stressed that advisories will be reviewed “hour-to-hour”. Mobility managers should therefore monitor the ministry’s dedicated Gulf-crisis page and subscribe to SMS alerts, as border closures or sudden airspace bans can upend itineraries with little notice.
