"Strike Was Almost 100 m From Us": Indian Student Recounts Iran Horror

"Dekh, dekh, dekh (Look, look, look)," screamed one among them.

"Shor mat karo (Do not shout)," cautioned another while the group of students peered out a glass window from their dormitory in Urmia in Iran as huge, billowing clouds of smoke went up.

It has been four days since the US and Israeli strikes killed Iran's supreme leader early Saturday and triggered a regional war that has seen missile and drone strikes across the Gulf and beyond.

"This strike was almost 100 meters from us, near the building of, I think, it was an army building. They call it the Sepah building, that was bombed right now. And recently, the first strike was almost 50 kilometers away, but it's coming to the center of the city right now," Mir Salis, a student in Urmia where the video was recorded, told NDTV.

"The students are not safe and are in a state of panic because most of the cities are getting bombed," he said.

Mir said there are 110 students where he is, while in total there are 1,200 to 1,500 students that are stuck all over the Iran.

"The situation is getting worse day by day, because they are attacking in the city centers, in the civilian areas. We are trying to be in the basements, but the bombing reaches the basement," he said about the fear stalking the students.

"Israel is bombing everything they are finding here. And we are in the border state, and it's more militarised than any zone. Tehran is the main city, but this is also getting bombed. This was the safest place, but this is also getting bombed," he said.

Asked how they are managing, he said,"We are not well-stocked, but the university is helping us in some way. But from yesterday, they didn't help us that much. They are saying they want to evacuate us because they don't want to take this responsibility on themselves. They are saying to us, 'We will provide buses for you to go to the Azerbaijan and Armenia border because it's nearer to us'," he added.

#NDTVExclusive | "Strike was 100m away from us. All of us are in state of panic": Mir Salis, Indian student in Iran's Urmia to @ankit_tyagi01 #IsraelIranConflict pic.twitter.com/khiLDTxy9C

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Majority of the students are from Kashmir, however, there are also students from other Indian state and cities as well - UP, Delhi, Bihar, Pune, Kerala, Mumbai.

"They are frightened, anxious, and deeply distressed. The strike occurred barely 300 meters from their boys' dormitory, and the force of the blast shook the entire building," the Jammu and Kashmir Students' Association said in a statement.

Loud blasts rocked Tehran on Tuesday as Iran hit industrial and diplomatic targets across the Middle East and threatened to open "the gates of hell" on the United States and Israel.

Soon afterwards, the Israeli military said it had hit a high-ranking Iranian commander in the capital.

"The situation on the ground appears extremely tense. Students report hearing the sound of fighter jets overhead almost every hour. Many residents in nearby neighbourhoods are reportedly leaving the city and moving towards the outskirts amid fears of further escalation. The atmosphere is one of panic and uncertainty," the students' body said.

The Iranian Red Crescent said that more than 780 people have been killed nationwide since the US and Israeli strikes began.

Tech giant Amazon said two of its data centres in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had been "directly struck" by drones, disrupting cloud services in parts of the Middle East.

Throughout the region, the death count has steadily increased, with six US military personnel killed so far in the war, according to US Central Command.

Iran urged the United Nations Security Council to take action to stop the war.

"We urgently request the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Embassy of India in Tehran to immediately relocate these students to safer locations. Given Armenia's proximity to Urmia, the government may also explore the possibility of facilitating emergency transit visas or safe passage arrangements. Swift and coordinated action is essential to ensure the safety and psychological well-being of these young students, who are far from home and caught in an increasingly volatile conflict zone," the students' body added.

India today said the intensification of the conflict and its spread, coupled with destruction and deaths, have evoked "great anxiety".

New Delhi has expressed concern over Indian citizens who are caught in the crosshairs of this escalating war.

"There are almost one crore Indian citizens who live and work in the Gulf region. Their safety and well-being is of utmost priority. We cannot be impervious to any development that negatively affects them," the Ministry said in a statement.

India reiterated its call for dialogue and diplomacy, adding that it is in in touch with the governments of this region as well as other key partners.

"At this critical hour, timely intervention can prevent a humanitarian crisis and provide much-needed reassurance to their anxious families back in India," the student body underscored.