Thread by @Paperclip_In

How an Indian young man's desperate appeal for help launched one of the biggest rescue ops of all time - a Thread: (1/n)

In the early 2010s, a series of popular uprisings rocked the Arab world that subsequently came to be known as the Arab Spring. It started off with the Tunisian revolution in January, 2011 and soon spread to Egypt and then Libya (2/n)

The latter had been under the autocratic rule of Muammar Gaddafi since 1969. The unrest began in early 2011 as protests by citizens against the draconian Gaddafi regime but soon spiraled into a full-fledged civil war that ravaged the nation for months (3/n)

The civil war placed foreign nationals working in Libya in deep duress. All ports were closed, the runway at Benina airport was destroyed and utter chaos had engulfed the airport at capital Tripoli (4/n)

Among the stranded foreign nationals were 18,000+ Indian citizens who were caught unawares by the rapidly deteriorating situation. Back home, their families and loved ones were facing a desperate situation (5/n)

One of them was a young man called Pranay Manocha. Pranay’s father was with a construction company in Libya (6/n)

One night, the construction site where Pranay’s father was working was raided by a mob that snatched all mobile phones and valuables. A complete state of lawlessness reigned in the country (7/n)

With no formal help forthcoming, a desperate Pranay penned a heartfelt, emotional note on Youth ki Awaaz, a social media platform on social justice issues (8/n)

In the note (youthkiawaaz.com/2011/02/indian…), Pranay pleaded for assistance to rescue his father and thousands of other stranded Indians. In no time, Pranay’s appeal went viral on various social media platforms (9/n)

Soon, major news networks took note of it with NTDTV running a big story and CNN IBN interviewing Pranay. There was now considerable pressure on the government to act (10/n)

It led to the launch of #OperationSafeHomecoming on February 26th, 2011 – one of the largest rescue missions ever undertaken by India (11/n)

Three Indian navy ships including INS Jalashwa – the largest amphibious vessel in the Navy – were pressed into service. Two Indian charter ships operating in the Mediterranean were also taken over by the government (12/n)

After securing flying permission from the Libyan government, Air India started evacuation flights from Tripoli, Sabha and Sirte airports. IAF transport aircraft were also mobilized. It was announced that all expenses will be borne by the Indian govt. (13/n)

By 11th March, 15,000 Indian nationals were safely evacuated out of war-torn Libya with around 3000 opting to stay back. @PranMan's appeal for help had pulled off a real miracle saving thousands of lives (14/n)

Pictures courtesy: Al Jazeera, Indian Navy and Wikimedia Commons