Shiva Kumar, the brother of Ravi Kumar, who is stuck in war-torn Sana’a, Yemen, for the past four days, has blamed the Indian government for its “tardy response to the crisis.”
A director in the same company where Mr. Ravi works, Mr. Shiva said his brother was visiting Yemen to set up a joint venture with another firm there.
He said, “I have no confidence that the government will do anything. It’s already been four days. Why can’t they rescue the Indians in helicopters and bring them to safety?”
ADVERTISEMENT
Meanwhile, speaking over phone from Sana’a, Ravi Kumar T., an engineer with Trinity NDT Engineers in Peenya, said he was stranded at the hotel along with 15 other Indians. Claiming that there were around 10,000 Indians (5,000 illegal) in Yemen, he said 3,100 were stranded in Sana’a. He urged the government to rescue him and all others on priority.
Mr. Kumar said 2,000 Indians had spoken with the Indian Embassy, who reportedly told them that the work of “collecting data” of passports and photos was proceeding slowly due to staff crunch.
With air and sea routes blocked and runways damaged, all outgoing flights from Sana’a have been stopped by Saudi Arabia. Mr. Kumar left for Yemen on March 12 and was to return on March 24. Since he could not get a flight that day, he got a ticket for March 26. But, he could not take the flight as the political situation changed suddenly.
With unreliable phone networks, he said he has been contacting his family only when there was connectivity.