Kolkata, 18 June

After a perilous 500-km road journey out of conflict-torn Tehran, stranded Indian tourist Falguni Dey reached Iran’s Astara border with Azerbaijan on Tuesday evening, but his ordeal is far from over.

Dey is now caught in a web of complex paperwork needed to cross into Azerbaijan and reach Baku, from where he plans to fly home.

"I may have managed to escape the bombs in Tehran by undertaking this journey, but now I am stuck in Iran's Astara land border because the Azerbaijan authorities would not accept me into their country without a special migration code issued by that government, and my e-visa won't work," Dey told PTI through a voice message.

"Despite my best persuasions, I have been told that it would require at least another fortnight for that code to arrive, and I have no idea how I will survive that long in Iran," the college professor from Kolkata added.

Translated into reality, this means the additional 300-odd kilometre journey from Astara — near the Caspian Sea in northeastern Iran — to the safety of a hotel room in Baku now remains a distant dream for Dey.

PTI had on Tuesday reported the plight of Dey, also an amateur mountaineer, who reached Tehran on June 5 for a bid to conquer the volcanic summit of Mount Damavand and remained stranded in Tehran because of Israeli missiles till June 17 before making a desperate attempt to escape the city by road and reach the Azerbaijan border.

"I am physically and emotionally drained at this point. On top of that, I am facing a severe funds crunch, and the uncertainty of reaching home is killing me. All my efforts and the money spent by my family and friends to get me to safety seem to have come to nought," Dey said, nearly breaking down.

The hotel booking in Baku made by his family from Kolkata, where Dey was supposed to reach on Wednesday morning, had to be cancelled because of the complexities at the border check post preventing his cross-over, Dey said.

"Even the Mumbai-bound flight from Baku, where I had booked a ticket, has now been cancelled because of the prevailing uncertainties all around," he added.

"No one told me in Tehran that my e-visa wasn't sufficient to cross over to Azerbaijan by land and that I also need this special migration pass code, especially in a war situation like this. I wasted no time in starting the application process for that code, but the authorities have responded to me over e-mail stating the process would require a minimum of 15 days to complete," Dey said.

"How can I wait that long in a place like this? There's a long queue of foreigners over here, and they are having all sorts of visas. I can see them crossing over to return to their respective homelands. But Indians like me have been told that possessing the migration code is mandatory for us to cross," he continued.

The silver lining amid this dark cloud looming over Dey, however, is the support he continues to receive from friends and family back home and also from strangers in this distant land.

"The vice chancellor of Calcutta University, Santa Dutta, is in constant touch with me. She is helping me with embassy contacts and liaising with officials for my safe exit. So is mountaineer Debasish Biswas. A senior officer from the Indian embassy's cultural wing in Tehran, Balaram Shukla, is also helping me out," Dey said.

He informed PTI that embassy officials in both Tehran and Baku are working in tandem on war footing to sort things out for Indians trapped in Iran.

"The embassies have now sent my documents to Azerbaijani authorities so that I can leave this country, considering the special situation I remain trapped in," he said.

Dey recounted how the car that transported him from Tehran to Astara had to make multiple stops for food, toilet needs, and refuelling.

"There is currently a cap on car fuel in Iran. Refuelling is not possible beyond a prescribed limit. So we had to make multiple stops to tank up," Dey said.

The distressed tourist, however, expressed his deep gratitude for the driver couple from his local travel agency who accompanied him all the way to the Astara border terminal to take care of his safety and security, offered emotional support and even carried fruits and tea for him.

Considering the current uncertainty he is faced with, Dey said he is now mulling the option of making another eight-hour journey to the Armenia border to try his luck for a crossing there.

Meanwhile, prayers from well-wishers are all Dey is counting on.