ImageCourtesy: Udayavani.com
Indian nationals, who were stranded in Yemen, Sanaa, were flown to Djibouti as the situation in Yemen turned worst. The government managed to successfully evacuate 325 more Indian nationals on Saturday. The stranded were first flown to Djibouti from where they boarded an Air India flight to Kochi in the evening.
Evacuation through sea made a slow progress as destroyer INS Mumbai could not dock at the Aden port because of heavy shelling between the Houthis and forces loyal to ousted president Mansour Hadi.
“There is heavy shelling in Aden. The ship is anchored 5/6 km off the coast. Indian nationals are being taken by boats to board the ship there,” tweeted the foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj.
The crew on board the INS Mumbai reported heavy gunfire and rocket firing around Aden, with the port itself under attack, said navy officers.
“The local administration seems to have broken down. Dhows have been hired at exorbitant prices to transport 30-35 Indians at a time to INS Mumbai. Almost 400 people are being provided with succour, counselling and medical help in board the destroyer, which started heading for Djibouti late on Saturday night,” said an officer.
Senior government officials said that they were looking to evacuate the remaining Indians stuck in Yemen in the next few days as the security situation there is not at all secure.
India has so far evacuated almost 1,800 nationals from Yemen using both sea and airways. There are still 2,500 plus nationals in Sanaa, looking to flee the country.
There were over 3,100 Indians in Sanaa out of which around 650 have been saved. From Aden, 306 out of 554 have been evacuated.
Two Nepalese, three Bangladeshis and three Pakistanis too were evacuated from Al-Hudaydah city two days ago.
So far, 337 people from Kerela, 246 from Maharashtra, 86 from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, 15 from Bihar, 48 from Delhi, 30 from Gujarat, 34 from Karnataka, 2 from Goa and 1 from Jammu and Kashmir have been brought back.
Tags: air india Evacuation Yemen
