The crew members of INS Tarkash, which participated in the Operation Rahat that saw the Indian Navy evacuate as many as 3,074 stranded Indians and other nationals from the war-torn Yemen, were accorded hero’s welcome by the senior officers of the western naval command, on their return to Mumbai harbor on Saturday.
Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral RK Dhowan will interact with the crew of INS Tarkash and INS Mumbai, on Monday. INS Mumbai, which had worked in tandem with INS Tarkash in Operation Rahat had returned to Mumbai on Thursday.
After New Delhi ordered evacuation of Indian nationals from strife-torn Yemen on March 30, the Indian Navy was first off the starting block. It diverted INS Sumitra, one of the newest Offshore Patrol Vessels of the Indian Navy, from her operational tasking in the Gulf of Aden. She immediately entered the Port of Aden and evacuated the first wave of 349 Indians on March 31 and transported them to Djibouti.
During the evacuation operations at Aden, the ship reported bombing and gunfire and a general disorder, pandemonium and unrest. At Djibouti, the evacuated Indians were met by Gen (Retd) VK Singh, the Minister of State for External Affairs, before they were airlifted to India by the Indian Air Force.
After the first group of evacuees was disembarked at Djibouti without losing any time, INS Sumitra after a quick operational turn around dispatched on April 2 for the Port of Hodeidah, from where the ship evacuated another 317 people (mostly Indian nationals) amidst similar unsecure conditions with bombing in the distance. This second wave was transported to Djibouti on April 3.
In the meanwhile, two major warships i.e. guided-missile destroyer INS Mumbai and the guided-missile frigate INS Tarkash were sailed from Mumbai to Yeman on evening of March 30. Two Indian passenger ships, MV Kavaratti and MV Coral, which normally ply between Kochi and the lakshadweep Islands, were also sailed out from Kochi towards Yemen.
IN Ships Mumbai and Tarkash were tasked to escort these passenger ships till Djibouti as the waters of the Gulf of Aden have been piracy-infested since 2008.
As the days progressed, the Port of Aden was engulfed in shelling and firing and permission for entry of ships was not accorded by the local authorities as fighting raged in the port city. As more than 300 Indians were known to be awaiting evacuation from Aden, INS Mumbai was relieved of escort duties and was dispatched to reach off Aden, where she arrived in the wee hours of April 4, while INS Tarkash continued to escort the passenger ships, which reached Djibouti on the afternoon of April 5. In a well coordinated operation, 441 people, including foreign nationals, women, elderly persons and children were evacuated using boats from the Port of Aden to INS Mumbai, which was just outside the port and were evacuated to safety in Djibouti by the morning of April 5.
After all ships were in area the evacuation cycle continued with close cooperation between various government agencies participating in the area and the three ships. As very few countries were participating in evacuation, requests poured in from the international community to evacuate their citizens from the war zone also. Keeping safety of life as paramount requirement, these ships, provided assistance to many foreign nationals in escaping to safety.
INS Mumbai reached Mumbai Harbour on April 16, while INS Tarkash escorted the two MVs Kavaratti and Coral out of piracy ridden Gulf of Aden and returned Mumbai harbour on Saturday morning. The two MVs with evacuees on them entered Cochin on Saturday.
The operation was executed under the operational control of the Western Naval Command, headquartered at Mumbai under the directives and monitoring at Integrated Headquarters (Ministry of Defence) Navy.
“In all these ships undertook a total of nine missions to various ports to evacuate over 3,074 persons form war-torn Yemen. “Those evacuated included nearly 1,291 people from over 30 foreign countries,” an Indian Navy spokesperson said here on Saturday.