Harbhajan Singh Vedi (1 September 1937 – 24 August 2013) was an Indian billionaire residing in Kuwait and was one of the main persons credited with the safe airlift evacuation of 170,000 Indians from Kuwait during the 1990 Invasion of Kuwait, which is hailed as the largest civilian evacuation in history. Vedi,

Mathunny Mathews Mathunny Mathews (Toyota Sunny) (1936-2017) was an Indian, a resident in Kuwait and was one of the people credited with the safe airlift evacuation of about 170,000 Indians from Kuwait during the 1990 Invasion of Kuwait, which is hailed as th ...

and many other people of India from Kuwait evacuated Indians and Harbhajan Singh Vedi helped the people in their world record's big survivor-ship.

Film

'' Airlift'' the 2016 film, directed by

Raja Krishna Menon Raja Krishna Menon is an Indian film writer, director and producer. He started as an advertisement director and later moved to feature films. He has directed three Bollywood films. His most recent film Chef was released on 7 October 2017. Ea ...

, is based on the evacuation on this real story. With the help of them the

1990 airlift of Indians from Kuwait The 1990 airlift of Indians from Kuwait was carried out from August 13, 1990 to October 20, 1990 after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Air India helped evacuate 170,000 people by civil airline. The operation was carried out before the Persian Gulf ...

was carried out from 13 August to 11 October 1990 during the

Invasion of Kuwait The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was an operation conducted by Iraq on 2 August 1990, whereby it invaded the neighboring State of Kuwait, consequently resulting in a seven-month-long Iraqi military occupation of the country. The invasion and Ira ...

. Leading daily Times of India reported that Kuwait based Malayali entrepreneur

(also known as Toyota Sunny) duly supported by Harbhajan Singh Vedi, played a stellar role in co-ordinating the evacuation operation by meeting Indian ambassador in Baghdad and overseeing the transport of thousands of Indians to Amman via Baghdad by bus after striking a deal with Iraqi transporters, Indian authorities and UN.

World Record

Air India Air India is the flag carrier airline of India, headquartered at New Delhi. It is owned by Talace Private Limited, a Special-Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of Tata Sons, after Air India Limited's former owner, the Government of India, completed the ...

holds the Guinness Book of World Records for the most people evacuated by a civil airliner as a result of this effort. The operation was carried out during the

Persian Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

in 1990 to evacuate Indian expatriates from

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

and

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

. It is believed to be the largest civilian evacuation in history. The Indians based in Kuwait also helped in the evacuation efforts.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vedi, Harbhajan Singh 1937 births 2013 deaths Indian billionaires Indian expatriates in Kuwait