Indian Air Force successfully evacuated 358 Indians from strife-torn Yemen in two groups. The first group of 168 people landed in Kochi last night and another group of 190 people landed in Mumbai on Thursday morning.
The Indian nationals, including nurses and workers, among others, reached home by the special flight–Indian Air Force’s C17 Globemasters– bringing an end to their about a week-long ordeal.
The flight carrying 190 people landed at around 3:25 AM at Mumbai international airports.
Braving the weather with high spirits. Indian nationals evacuated from Aden now in Djibouti. Will be home tonight. pic.twitter.com/kiIEGmH1CH
— Syed Akbaruddin (@MEAIndia) April 1, 2015
This was the second flight in the rescue efforts, as at 2 AM, an IAF plane carrying 168 Indians aboard, evacuated from Yemen landed in Kochi.
Defence sources said that the flight to Mumbai could not take off on time from Djibouti due to the pending paper work of the evacuees.
The big bird heads to Kochi from Djibouti. (Image: @MEAIndia/Twitter)
Many people did not have even their passports with them leading to delay in flight, the sources said.
Maharashtra Tourism and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Mehta and MP Kirit Somaiya were present the airport to welcome the evacuees.
Safe journey young man. MoS @Gen_VKSingh bids farewell inside the C-17 Globemaster which just left Djibouti 4 Mumbai pic.twitter.com/vTcD2mMwWn — Syed Akbaruddin (@MEAIndia) April 1, 2015
They were part of as many as 350 Indians who reached Djibouti after being evacuated on a Navy vessel from Aden, the seaport city of Yemen.
Meanwhile, the Central Railway has offered free-of-cost travelling for the evacuees till their destinations.
The evacuation operation was a very difficult task as not much details were available with the IAF, Wing Commander Vikram Abbi, co-pilot of the flight, told PTI.
Abbi said that the crew were told about the rescue operation on March 30 and the flight departed from India yesterday.
One of the evacuees, Mary Amma Vargeese said, she was working as a nurse in a hospital in Aden for past two years. And, one day she suddenly “heard some exploding sound, after which I stopped going to work.”
From all over India. State wise numbers of those evacuated from Aden and getting ready to fly back home today. pic.twitter.com/Znp9pU4Jmw
— Syed Akbaruddin (@MEAIndia) April 1, 2015
“All the shops were closed, we didn’t have food for many days,” she said.
A spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry has said of the 350 evacuees, 206 belong to Kerala, 40 are from Tamil Nadu, 31 from Maharashtra, 23 from West Bengal and 22 from Delhi, besides other states.
The Indians were evacuated late Monday night by INS Sumitra, which was diverted from its anti-piracy patrol in the region. It waited for hours to get local clearances as heavy fighting was reported in the city.
(With inputs from PTI)
