‘India welcomes back its own’: Jaishankar on arrival of evacuees from Sudan
Under 'Operation Kaveri', a total of 360 Indians evacuated from Sudan boarded a flight from Jeddah Airport to New Delhi.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday informed about the arrival of the first batch of 360 Indian nationals, evacuated from war-torn Sudan, in New Delhi, saying “India welcomes back its own.”
"#OperationKaveri brings 360 Indian Nationals to the homeland as first flight reaches New Delhi,” Jaishakar said in a tweet as he posted the pictures of evacuees at Delhi airport.
Under 'Operation Kaveri', a total of 360 Indians evacuated from Sudan boarded a flight from Jeddah Airport to New Delhi. India used two C-130J military transport aircraft and the warship INS Sumedha to evacuate more than 530 citizens from Sudan since Tuesday, taking advantage of a 72-hour ceasefire between the regular army and a rebel paramilitary force.
Under its evacuation mission, India is taking the evacuees to the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah from where they are returning home and more than 530 citizens have been evacuated so far from Sudan stands.
Minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan, who is personally monitoring the evacuation efforts, had also 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”.
The evacuation came days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting, and issued directions for the preparation of contingency plans to evacuate Indians from Sudan.