First batch of 358 Indians from Yemen arrive in Mumbai

Djibouti/Mumbai: The first batch of stranded Indians arrived in Mumbai at 3.30 AM local time, on Thursday. An IAF aircraft brought them from Djibouti.

“We are elated about the government’s response and efforts in safeguarding its citizens,” said one of the evacuees, Shaique Ruknuddin Shakre. All through his journey from Aden to Mumbai, Shakre was updating Newskarnataka.com on this developing story.

The flight took off from Djibouti at 8.15 PM (Indian time- 10. 45 PM) and landed at Mumbai at 3.30 AM – immediately he sent a message on WhatsApp. Hours before they boarded the aircraft at Djibouti, Minister of State for overseas Indian affairs General (ret) V K Singh addressed the evacuees. It is learnt that V K Singh asked, “Are you happy to travel back to India?” Singh also asked them to report problems, if any.

The Maharashtra government received the trapped Indians with all respect, informed Shakre. He said the Maharashtra government paid each evacuee Rs. 3000 apart from handing over free train tickets to respective destinations. He expressed his gratitude for government’s response. “I want to thank all of them who facilitated our return to our home land.”

Rescue fact sheet

A foreign ministry spokesperson said 206 evacuees belong to Kerala, 40 are from Tamil Nadu, 31 from Maharashtra, 23 from West Bengal and 22 from Delhi.

The Indians, including 101 women and 28 children, were rescued from the port city of Aden in Yemen on Tuesday night in naval warship INS Sumitra, which “sailed into a barrage of bombs” in the dead of night.

They were taken yesterday to Djibouti across the Red Sea, nine hours from Aden. The Indians were received there by union minister VK Singh, who is monitoring evacuation efforts.

Indian aircraft have been cleared to fly to the Yemeni capital Sana’a and evacuate people by air. Two Air India Airbus 320s have landed in Sana’a from Muscat, where they were waiting for clearance.

Around 750 of some 4,000 Indians in Yemen have been evacuated so far. The naval ship INS Sumitra has permission to make multiple trips to evacuate more Indians. It will be joined by two other naval vessels and two passenger liners, the navy said.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking for help to evacuate nurses who claim they are stuck in Yemen and their passports have not been returned by hospitals where they work.

Saudi-led coalition warplanes pounded the outskirts of Aden on Tuesday, destroying missiles and weapons depots and for the first time used warships to bomb the rebel-held airport.

Many countries, including Pakistan and China, have rushed their officials, aircraft and ships to evacuate their nationals.