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 war-ravaged country. For its part, the Railways provided free tickets to 75 of those who were evacuated from Yemen and brought to Mumbai. After hectic diplomatic efforts, India finally got permission to land in Sana’a and the first flight with a passenger capacity of 120 has landed, the spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry said.
Minister of State in External Affairs Ministry VK Singh is in Djibouti to oversee the evacuation operation. Nearly 2,500 Indian nationals are waiting in Sana’a to flee the strife-torn country. The MEA spokesperson said there will be four sorties on Friday by Air India plane and the Government was hoping to rescue over 500 nationals. After reaching Djibouti, these evacuees will be brought home by special flights of the Air Force. Railways provided free tickets to the 75 people to enable them to return their home towns across the country. The evacuees were received by Railway officials at the Mumbai International Airport in the wee hours of on Thursday and taken by bus to the lokmanya Tilak and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus stations, a Railway Ministry official said.
The support from the Railways came after Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu directed the General Managar in Mumbai to render all possible help to the evacuees from Yemen. Prabhu later hailed the help extended by the Central Railway. “Great efforts by @Central_Railway for Yemen Evacuees! Assistance provided. Transport, refreshments, help for onward journey,” he tweeted. Air India had sent two 180-seater Airbus A320 planes to Muscat on March 30 for evacuation of Indians from Sana’a to Djibouti but they could not fly to the Yemeni city as clearance was not given by the concerned authorities.
The MEA spokesperson further said 35 Indians had crossed over from Yemen to Saudi Arabia and are now in Gizan. He said Indian officials are assisting them them to return to India. On Thursday, more than 300 Indians were rescued from Yemeni port city of Al Hudaydah, taking the total number of those rescued to over 800 from the country. So far, majority of Indians have been rescued by Navy vessel INS Sumitra. It evacuated 350 Indians from Aden on Tuesday and rescued over 300 nationals from Al Hudaydah on Thursday. Indians are being brought back to the country from Djibouti by two Air Force C-17 Globemasters.