On Saturday afternoon, 475 people fleeing from Yemen disembarked here from passenger ships MV Kavaratti and MV Corals , marking the end of Operation Raahat carried out by India in the war-torn country.
The vessels, which berthed at the BTP berth of the Cochin port around 1.45 p.m. and 2.05 p.m. respectively, carried 337 Bangladesh nationals and 65 Yemen nationals of Indian origin. There were 73 Indian passengers, including 16 Keralites; 31 from Tamil Nadu; eight each from Delhi and Mumbai; and one from Karnataka. On arrival, one Yemen citizen and a crew of MV Kavaratti were shifted to the Ernakulam General Hospital for medical attention.
Minister for Non-Resident Keralites Affairs K.C. Josephsaid that 57 of the 65 Yemenis on board the vessels would be sent to Mumbai later in the day. The rest would stay back in the ships for a couple of days. “To facilitate their onward journey, we will extend to them the same financial assistance offered to the Non-Resident Keralites,” the Minister said.
Temporary permit
Earlier, the government had granted a temporary landing permit of one week for the Yemen nationals to disembark in Kochi. The onward journey of the Bangladesh nationals was being coordinated by a five-member delegation led by Shah Ahmed Shafi, Minister (Political), Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi. “We have brought in two aircraft of Biman Bangladesh Airlines to Kochi, which will take off to Dhaka with our citizens early on Sunday,” the official said. The vessels, operated by the Lakshadweep administration, were the first to be entrusted with evacuation of Indians from Yemen. They had left Kochi in the early hours of March 30.
The vessels, however, were anchored off Djibouti as the situation in Yemen had turned unfavourable for their entry to the ports there. Naval destroyer INS Mumbai and frigate INS Tarkash escorted them up to Djibouti.