Yemen: Two air sorties to fly back 351 Indians
So far, Navy vessel INS Sumitra evacuated 350 Indians from Aden on Tuesday and rescued over 300 from Al Hudaydah on Thursday
New Delhi: India on Friday began evacuation by air of its citizens from Yemen as the first Air India flight landed in Sana’a — to rescue those trapped in the largest city of the war- ravaged country — with two sorties flying 351 Indians out of Sana’a to nearby Djibouti in Africa. After hectic diplomatic efforts, India finally got permission to land its aircraft in Sana’a, officials of the ministry of external affairs said.
India on Friday began air evacuation of its citizens from Yemen as the first Air India flight landed in Sanaa to rescue those trapped in the largest city of the warravaged country, with two sorties flying 351 Indians out of Sanaa to nearby Djibouti in Africa.
After hectic diplomatic efforts, India finally got permission to land its aircraft in Sanaa, MEA officials said. This has taken the total number of evacuees to nearly 1,000 from war- torn Yemen. Nearly 2,500 Indian nationals are waiting in Sanaa to flee the strife- torn country.
“Families together. Opening a new route, Air India brings back 173 Indians on first flight out of Sanaa to Djibouti. First air evacuation from Yemen successful, Air India flights evacuate a total of 351 Indians from Sanaa to Djibouti,” MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin tweeted on Friday evening.
He also said a C- 17 transport aircraft of the IAF would fly 179 passengers ( from Djibouti) to Mumbai, with another C- 17 aircraft flying 155 passengers ( again from Djibouti) to Mumbai while an Air India aircraft would fly from Djibouti to Kochi and Mumbai with 330 passengers. The IAF aircraft will touch down at about 11 pm on Friday while the Air India aircraft will touch down at about 1 am on Saturday.
Earlier, he had tweeted, “India begins evacuation by air, first Air India flight now in Sanaa. Intensified efforts to evacuate Indian nationals from Yemen underway. ( Indians are) Returning via Jeddah too. Thirty five Indians who had crossed over from Yemen to Gizan being assisted by the Consulate in Jeddah.”
“Though the government was working on four air sorties but due to the time- corridor factor, only two could be held. The 351 evacuees have reached Djibouti,” officials said earlier. Minister of state for external affairs Gen. V. K. Singh ( Retd) is in Djibouti to oversee the evacuation operation.
Air India had earlier sent two 180- seater Airbus A320 planes to Muscat on March 30 for evacuation of Indians from Sanaa but they could not fly to the Yemeni city earlier as clearance was not given then by the concerned local authorities.
On Thursday night, more than 300 Indians were rescued from the Yemeni port city of Al Hudaydah, taking the total number of those rescued to over 800 from the country. So far, majority of Indians were rescued by Navy vessel INS Sumitra. It had evacuated 350 Indians from Aden on Tuesday night and rescued over 300 nationals from Al Hudaydah on Thursday. The Indians are being brought back to the country from Djibouti by Air Force C- 17 Globemaster transport aircraft.