As many as 349 Indians have been evacuated from strife-torn Yemen and have been moved to Djibouti across the Gulf of Aden. Most of them are scheduled to reach Indian shores in the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.
As many as 349 Indians have been evacuated from strife-torn Yemen and have been moved to Djibouti across the Gulf of Aden. Most of them are scheduled to reach Indian shores in the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.
Indian nationals boarded Indian INS Sumitra in the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday to sail to Djibouti, where two Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft were ready to transfer them to India. INS Sumitra had set sails from Aden harbour of Yemen at around 11.30 pm (IST) on Tuesday.
However, out of the 349, only 269 boarded C-17 Globemaster of the IAF. "One aircraft with 90 Indians will land at Mumbai whereas the other with 179 on board will reach Kochi by Wednesday midnight. Rest of those evacuated are either opting to wait at Djibouti or making their own arrangements for further movement," said an official.
Out of the 349 who were stranded, 220 are men, 101 women and 28 are kids. Evacuation of Yemen operations has been christened as 'Operation Raahat' by Indian authorities.
"INS Mumbai and Tarkash also sailed from Mumbai on March 30. The ships will escort two passenger vessels, Kavaratti and Coral, through the piracy-prone area off the coast of Somalia. These passenger vessels had sailed from Kochi for Djibouti. The two warships will, thereafter, be available for evacuation of Indian nationals from Yemeni ports, as required," said a naval spokesperson.
Minister of state for external affairs VK Singh is in Djibouti to oversee the evacuation exercise.
In the last few months, Yemen has witnessed one of the most severe crises and is on the brink of a civil war. The country's competing forces are fighting to control Yemen. In the last 24 hours, there has been heavy exchange of firing on the Saudi Arabia-Yemen border. In the last one week, Saudi Arabia has also joined the conflict with an aim to restoring president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
The battle is between the supporters of Shi'ite Houthi and Hadi, who is also being supported by Sunni groups within Yemen.
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