After bringing back anxious Indians stranded in Yemen and reuniting them with their families on Thursday, India is looking to scale up the evacuation efforts and plans are afoot to bring back the second batch of 300 Indians via Al Hudaydah port on the West coast of Yemen.
On Thursday evening, the second batch of Indians began embarking the naval ship INS Sumitra at Al Hudaydah port and will be transported to Djibouti from where they will be flown to India in an Air Force C-17 Globemaster, officials said. Air Force officials informed that a C-17 has been dispatched to Djibouti, which will reach there late night on Thursday. Another C-17 is likely to be dispatched.
However, India is yet to secure permission for evacuating its nationals from the Yemen capital Sana’a. As fighting intensifies and threat of ground invasion by the Saudi Arabia led coalition looms, Sana’a is now the focal point of the evacuation efforts as majority of the 3,000 plus stranded Indians in Yemen are in the landlocked capital. The road route from Sana’a to Aden or Al Hudaydah is unsafe at this point.
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“Diplomatic options being pursued to ensure safe return of all Indians from Yemen,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin tweeted.
Meanwhile, Naval ships INS Mumbai ad INS Tarkash along with passenger ships Kavaratti and Corals have teamed up in the Arabian Sea and are heading to Djibouti as a composite evacuation group. They are expected to reach on April 4.
Earlier in the day, Minister of State for External Affairs General VK Singh (Retd) met and thanked the Foreign Minister Mohamoud Ali Youssouf of Djibouti for supporting Indian evacuation efforts, which are being coordinated from this neighbouring country.
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The first batch of 358 stranded Indians evacuated from Aden on Wednesday and transferred to Djibouti reached India in two C-17 Globemasters in the early hours on Thursday. While the first C-17 landed in Kochi with 168 passengers, the second landed in Mumbai with 190 passengers.