Despite heavy shelling and security threats to its ships and planes, India continued to use the air and sea routes to evacuate its nationals. On Sunday, in the largest evacuation in a day so far, Air India brought out 488 Indians in three flights from Sanaa to Djibouti. On Sunday night, Indian Air Force’s C-17 aircraft with 225 evacuees on board reached Mumbai from Djibouti. Over 2,000 Indians have been evacuated so far, with nearly 800 on Saturday and roughly same number on Sunday. Indian Navy alone has brought out 1,310 so far. With situation fast deteriorating in Yemen, MEA got several SOS messages from Indians. On Sunday, External Affairs Minister tweeted: “We shall evacuate all Indian nationals from Yemen. Nobody will be left behind for want of travel documents.”
Navy ships INS Sumitra and INS Mumbai continued with their evacuation efforts on Sunday. Amidst heavy shelling in Aden armed Navy personnel evacuated 439 of its nationals to INS Mumbai by ferrying people in small batches by boat to the ship. Almost all Indians are out of war torn Aden now. According to Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin, in Aden vice-principal of Mahatma Gandhi International School, Tahseen Bahader, co-ordinated evacuation and herself boarded the ship last.
As India pulled out its people from strife-torn Yemen, it also brought out 21 nationals of countries like Bangladesh, Djibouti, Nepal, Pakistan and Uganda. Similarly, Pakistani ships also helped 11 Indians out from Mokallah,which is now almost under control of al-Qaeda militants. “INS Sumitra lives up to its name — “good friend” — 203 evacuated — from Ash Shihr, 182 Indians and rest from 7 other countries Heads 2 Djibouti,” tweeted Akbaruddin. In another tweet he said: “Humanitarian gesture — Indian Navy evacuated 3 Pak nationals from Hodeida by INS Sumitra. Pakistan brought 11 Indians from Makala.”
“Thirty-five other foreign nationals also requiring emergency evacuation are also on board. These include 8 Chinese, 11 Indians and 4 British citizens. The ship will arrive at Karachi on April 7,” the Pakistani Foreign Office said in a statement. Air India has deployed three A320 for evacuation from Sanaa to Djibouti and one A777 for flying Indians from Djibouti to Kochi and Mumbai while IAF has deployed two C 17 aircrafts to fly passengers from Djibouti to India. Navy has pressed in three ships — INS Sumitra, INS Mumbai and Tarkash, Ministry of Home has given two passenger ships — Kavaratti and Corals — to carry 1100 passengers. Back home, Maharashtra Government is giving Rs3,000 to each passenger arriving in Mumbai and Indian Railways is providing all hospitality and confirmed tickets, free of charge, for onward journey to their homes..
Meanwhile, the Twitter remained abuzz with criticism of those who do not leave war-torn countries despite warnings by Government issued months in advance. While some expressed that Government should leave behind those who did not adhere to warnings, there were differing views with some arguing that each and every Indian life matters. “If your son/daughter does not listen to you do you let them dieIJ” tweeted @Jorebungley.
“Govt not as obligated as parents. Modi Government has gone beyond call of duty” responded @Purusharth6 to which @pragmatic_rebel said: “if people *choose* to stay for money+free evacuation, Govt shouldn’t oblige.”