Headlines
Air evacuation of Indians begins from Sana'a
New Delhi, April 3
India on Friday began
evacuating its nationals by air from the Yemeni capital of Sana'a as two
Air India flights took off with 351 Indians for the African nation of
Djibouti, across the Gulf of Aden, even as an Indian naval ship reached
there with 306 people who would be flown back home.
External
affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin tweeted: "1st air
evacuation from Yemen successful. 2 Air India flights evacuate a total
of 351 Indians from Sana'a to Djibouti."
He also tweeted a photo
of the 306 Indians who have arrived in Djibouti for being flown back to
India. "Relief. Indians evacuated by INS Sumitra from Al Hodeidah now in
Djibouti enroute to their homes in India."
He earlier said that
the government is "working on all fronts" to pull out its citizens from
strife-torn Yemen. "Working on all fronts. We are making all out efforts
to significantly enhance evacuation of Indian nationals from Yemen."
Separately,
35 Indian nationals crossed over from Yemen to Saudi Arabia and are now
in Gizan, a port city near the Yemen border, he tweeted, adding that
MEA officials are assisting them to return to India.
On Thursday, another batch of 35 Indians had arrived in Djibouti aboard a cargo vessel from Aden.
So
far, the Indian government has been able to evacuate more than 700
Indian nationals from Yemen and 350 have come back home, the
spokesperson said.
"Around 2,000-2,500 Indian nationals wish to
come back and today we hope to significantly enhance our evacuation
efforts," he said.
The 306 Indian nationals who landed in
Djibouti were evacuated from the western Yemeni port city of Al Hodeidah
by sea on board INS Sumitra.
The 306 Indians who left Al Hodeidah port, on the western coast of Yemen, comprised 251 men, 38 women and 17 children.
Defence
ministry spokesperson Sitanshu Kar tweeted that one more Globemaster
C-17 transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force has arrived in Djibouti
from Jamnagar.
This is the second batch of Indians to be
evacuated on board INS Sumitra. It had earlier this week brought over
350 Indians from Aden to Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa. Early Thursday
morning, 358 Indians arrived from Yemen in two airplanes - one landed
in Kochi and the other in Mumbai.