External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Sunday said that India will make all efforts to rescue Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who went missing in Yemen after ISIS militants attacked a care home run by late Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.
“Yemen is a conflict zone. We do not have an Embassy there. But we will spare no efforts to rescue Father Tom Uzhunnalil,” Sushma tweeted. The Minister noted that though there was no Indian Embassy in Yemen, there was a camp office in Djibouti. She also said that the number of Indians killed in the attack was one, not four as was reported earlier.
Gunmen stormed the refuge for the elderly on Friday, killing a Yemeni guard before tying up and shooting 15 other employees. Four foreign nuns, including an Indian, working as nurses were among those killed in the attack and the gunmen tied the arms and hands of the priest and took him with them.
The Indian nun killed in the attack has been identified as Sister M Anseleme, 57, from Jharkhand. Of the other three nuns, two were from Rwanda and another from Kenya.
Sushma has also appealed to all Indians in such danger zones to return home. “I appeal to all Indians in such danger zones to please come back to India,” the Minister had tweeted on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy said on Sunday that the Indian Government will also shift, out of Yemen, the Indian Mother Superior of the aid home in Aden.
Speaking to reporters Chandy said that after he spoke to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday night, Indian officials from Djibouti have established contacts with Sister Sally, the Mother Superior who hails from Kerala.
“I managed to speak to Sister Sally a while ago and she said that she has been contacted by Indian Embassy officials from Djibouti who are expected to come to take her with them on Monday. She said that things are not that smooth where she is and there is no information about Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who hails from Kottayam district and was taken away by the gunmen,” he said.
Chandy added that Sister Sally was lucky to escape the attackers as she, along with a few locals, saved herself, by hiding when the gunmen created mayhem.