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Yemen evacuation in 50 pics: How India brought back 4,000 Indians home
The total number of Indian evacuees from war-ravaged Yemen touched 4,000 with nearly 700 more nationals, including 600 from Sanaa, being rescued in 3 air sorties as the government decided to end the air evacuation operation on Wednesday.
The total number of Indian evacuees from war-ravaged Yemen touched 4,000 with nearly 700 more nationals, including 600 from Sanaa, being rescued in 3 air sorties as the government decided to end the air evacuation operation on Wednesday.
While 600 people were rescued by state carrier Air India, over 100 others were being evacuated from Al Hudaydah by INS Turkish on Tuesday, officials told PTI.
According to sources, 4,100 Indians had registered with the Indian mission in Yemen and most of them are out. The government may continue the evacuation by sea route for some more time, they added.
India also received requests from 26 countries including the US, Bangladesh and Iraq for assistance in evacuating their nationals from the strife-torn country. While Pakistan did not seek help for the evacuation of its nationals, India also rescued Pakistani nationals during the operation.
In the begining, India struggled for several days to ramp up its rescue effort and had to hire a ship to evacuate its nationals from the port of Aden as fighting escalated there.
India's rescue effort got off to a false start, with planes commandeered from Air India sitting idle in Muscat, Oman, as it was impossible to negotiate the opening of a safe air corridor with the Saudis.
Things got moving with the deployment of minister of state for external affairs General VK Singh to a forward operations base in Djibouti, on the other side of the Gulf of Aden, from where Indian Air Force C-17 transporters picked up evacuees brought out by Air India from Aden and flying them home.
India's embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa has a full-time staff of just 10, making it tough to track citizens there - some reluctant to leave even in the face of danger because losing their jobs would spell financial ruin.
Here are 50 pictures that show the ground situation in Yemen and Indian evacuees reaching home safely:
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Read | 560 dead amid fears of humanitarian collapse in war-torn Yemen
With inputs from PTI, Reuters, ANI
Photos from HT, AP, Reuters, PTI
