The first batch of 12 Indians rescued from the ill-fated cruise ship 'Costa Concordia', which sank off the Tuscan coast in Italy on the 14th of this month, returned to New Delhi today with 60 others headed to other cities. They said, they were lucky to have survived and relieved to be back home after the traumatic experience.

Twelve out of the over 200 Indians rescued from ship were flown to New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International airport from Italy in an Emirates flight via Dubai.

The flight arrived at 11.17 AM, but only four of them residents of Rajasthan, Uttarkhand and Himachal Pradesh came out of Terminal 3. An official from the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs G H Ratra said, out of the 12, six went to Goa, one each to Lucknow and Guwahati by domestic flights. He said, the remaining about 125 rescued Indians will be flown back home tomorrow.

The Ministry of External Affairs has created help desks at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Kolkata airports for the convenience of the passengers. At Delhi airport, the incharge of help desk Mr Maurice could be reached at his mobile number 9818173549 while in Mumbai, Mr Vinod Chaube could be contacted at 09004941234.

Kolkata help desk is being manned by Mr Shree Kumar who can be contacted on 09874409778. Mr Pandiyan is in charge of help desk at Chennai. He could be reached at 09445103111. For Bangalore help desk, people may contact Dr Srinivasa on his cell number 09739246988 while in Hyderabad, Dr. S. reddy may be contacted on 07702022294.