360 Indians evacuated from war-hit Sudan to reach Delhi soon via flight | Watch
India launched Operation Kaveri to rescue its citizens from conflict-hit Sudan earlier this week.
Under 'Operation Kaveri', the first flight with 360 Indians took off from Jeddah Airport, and is expected to reach Delhi by 9pm. Under the mission, citizens were flown by the Indian Air Force (IAF) from Port Sudan to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia while several others were taken by ship.
India launched Operation Kaveri to rescue its citizens from conflict-hit Sudan earlier this week as the fighting between the Sudanese Army and paramilitary groups has intensified.
Minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan, who is personally monitoring the evacuation efforts, tweeted, “Happy to see off 360 Indians at Jeddah Airport in a flight bound for New Delhi They will be reaching the motherland soon, reuniting with their families Under #OperationKaveri the Government is working relentlessly to evacuate Indian nationals from Sudan & bring them home safely”.
Also read: 10,000 refugees flee to South Sudan as conflict rages
Muraleedharan also shared a video of the evacuated Indians boarding the plane. In the video, the minister can be heard speaking to the citizens that PM Modi has vowed to bring back every Indian.
The evacuation operation started in Port Sudan. Till now, an estimated 300-500 Indian citizens have been evacuated by ship and other evacuation processes are going on.
The citizens who returned to India spoke about the conditions in Sudan and the ordeal they went through within the country.
In a video posted by ANI, one of the citizens can be seen talking about how it was a riot situation in Sudan. He says that the Indian government made arrangements to take them by ship. He also says the citizens were fed by the Indian forces.