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Operation Raahat: Over 350 Indian nationals return from strife-torn Yemen on two IAF flights

The Indian Air Force's C-17 Globemaster, carrying them landed at around 3:25 AM at the city's international airport here.

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Over 358 Indians evacuated from the Yemen were brought home by two Indian Air Force (IAF) planes on Thursday morning, in the government's first major mission to rescue Indians stranded in the strife-torn nation.

The first plane carrying 168 people, mostly nurses from Kerala, landed at Kochi airport at 2:00 am, while the second plane carrying 190 Indian nationals landed in Mumbai at 3:25 am.

Defence sources said that the flight to Mumbai could not take off on time from Djibouti due to the pending paper work of the evacuees.

Many people did not have even their passports with them leading to delay in flight, the sources said.

Maharashtra Tourism and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Mehta and MP Kirit Somaiya were present at Mumbai airport to welcome the evacuees.

Kerala Diaspora Minister KC Joseph, PWD Minister Ibrahim Kunjuand and their family members welcomed those who landed in Kochi airport. 

They were part of as many as 350 Indians who reached Djibouti after being evacuated on a Navy vessel from Aden, the seaport city of Yemen.

Meanwhile, the Central Railway has offered free-of-cost travelling for the evacuees till their destinations.

The evacuation operation was a very difficult task as not much details were available with the IAF, Wing Commander Vikram Abbi, co-pilot of the flight, told PTI.

Abbi said that the crew were told about the rescue operation on March 30 and the flight departed from India yesterday.

One of the evacuees, Mary Amma Vargeese said, she was working as a nurse in a hospital in Aden for past two years.

And, one day she suddenly "heard some exploding sound, after which I stopped going to work."

"All the shops were closed, we didn't have food for many days," she said.

A spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry has said of the 350 evacuees, 206 belong to Kerala, 40 are from Tamil Nadu, 31 from Maharashtra, 23 from West Bengal and 22 from Delhi, besides other states.

The Indians were evacuated late Monday night by INS Sumitra, which was diverted from its anti-piracy patrol in the region. It waited for hours to get local clearances as heavy fighting was reported in the city.

(With inputs)

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