India receives requests from 23 countries to evacuate their citizens from Yemen

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday said that 23 countries have requested India to evacuate their citizens from strife-hit Yemen. Swaraj shared the information on micro-blogging site Twitter. "Twenty three countries have requested India to evacuate their citizens from Yemen," she posted. On Sunday, the minister assured that all Indian nationals would be evacuated from the Middle East country.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had earlier confirmed that 488 Indians had been evacuated from Sana'a, while a further 182 were rescued from coastal town Ash Shihr. This followed the rescue of 439 Indians by the Indian Navy's guided-missile destroyer INS Mumbai from Yemen 's port city Aden on Saturday. 

India on Sunday evacuated 670 more nationals, including 488 from Sanaa by three Air India flights, taking the total number of Indians rescued from war-ravaged Yemen to nearly 2,300 after the "largest" evacuation in a day so far from there. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj thanked Air India for its massive effort in operation 'Raahat' to pull out Indians trapped in several parts of Yemen amid raging fighting.

"Air India conducted three successful flights out of Sanaa and evacuated 488 Indians. It was the largest evacuation so far," the Spokesperson in External Affairs Ministry said. He further said that 203 people were evacuated from Ash Shihr-- 182 Indians and the rest from seven other countries-- by Navy vessel INS Sumitra.

Also Read: 670 more Indians evacuated from Yemen; nearly 2,300 rescued so far