Ministry of External External Affairs spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin shared the information on micro-blogging site Twitter. "Requests for Indian assistance in evacuation from Yemen keeps growing. On last count 26 requests received," he posted.
Ministry of External External Affairs (MEA) on Monday said that 26 countries have requested India to evacuate their citizens from strife-hit Yemen.
MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin shared the information on micro-blogging site Twitter. "Requests for Indian assistance in evacuation from Yemen keeps growing. On last count 26 requests received," he posted.
Countries that have sought India's assistance in evacuating its nationals from the war-ravaged country, includes, USA, France, Germany, Sweden, Singapore, Malaysia, Ireland, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Iraq among others. While Pakistan has not sought help for the evacuation of its nationals, India during the operation also rescued Pakistani nationals.
Meanwhile, speaking to ANI, Minister of State (External Affairs) VK Singh said that overseeing the evacuation of Indians from Yemen is less exciting than going to the Pakistani embassy.
Singh termed the evacuation process a difficult task and said that the government is trying its best to evacuate as many people as soon as possible.
India on Monday evacuated 1052 of its nationals from Yemen, taking the total number of Indians rescued from the strife-torn country to nearly 3,300 as the government was looking at wrapping up the massive evacuation operation 'Rahat' in a couple of days.
While 574 Indians were evacuated from Sanaa by Air India, which did three sorties, another group of 479 was rescued from Al Hudaydah by INS Mumbai, the Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry.
With nearly 3,300 of its nationals out of Yemen, India was looking at wrapping up the evacuation operation in a couple of days.
Pakistan had also brought 11 Indians from Al Mukallah.
The evacuees were being taken to Djibouti from where they will fly back to India in an Indian Air Force aircraft.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also hailed the "seamless" operation by various government departments to evacuate Indians as also several non-Indians from strife-torn Yemen.
In a series of tweets, he said the evacuation efforts reflect the government's willingness to serve its people and readiness to help others in distress, which is India's ethos.
"Salute the services of our civilian & defence officials & organisations in helping evacuate our citizens from Yemen. Continue your efforts," he said.
"Seamless co-operation between organisations- MEA, Navy, Air Force, Air India, Shipping, Railways & State Govts greatly helped in rescue work," the Prime Minister added.
He had special praise for External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Minister of State for External Affairs Gen (retd) V K Singh for their efforts.
"Colleagues @SushmaSwaraj & @Gen_VKSingh (who has been on the ground for days), have co-ordinated evacuation efforts in an exemplary manner," Modi wrote.
Yemen has been witnessing fierce battle between Saudi-led coalition and Shiite rebels, who have battled their way into various cities Yemen including in the former stronghold of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi who has fled overseas.
(With PTI inputs)
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