The tenth batch of Indians stranded in strife-torn Sudan left for Jeddah from Port Sudan, four days after the Ministry of External Affairs launched the rescue mission Operation Kaveri.
"OperationKaveri progresses further. 10th batch of evacuees with 135 passengers onboard IAF C-130J flight departs Port Sudan for Jeddah," tweeted Arindam Bagchi, official spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs.
Earlier in the day, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan had tweeted about how the Indian Embassy rescued the eighth batch, calling it a ‘daring rescue.’
The MoS tweeted that the eighth batch of 121 Indians arrived at Jeddah by IAF C 130J from Wadi Seidna, Sudan and the evacuation was more complex as the location is in the vicinity of Khartoum. He added that the batch included the family members of our Embassy Officials.
Under ‘Operation Kaveri’, India has been taking its citizens in buses from conflict zones of Khartoum and other troubled areas to Port Sudan from where they are being taken to Jeddah in IAF’s heavy-lift transport aircraft and Indian Navy’s ships.
The distance between Khartoum and Port Sudan is around 850 km and the travel time by bus varies from 12 hours to 18 hours considering the prevailing situation and whether the vehicles are operating during the day or night.
Under its evacuation mission ‘Operation Kaveri’, India is taking the evacuees to the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah from where they are returning home. India has set up a transit facility at Jeddah and Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan is overseeing the evacuation mission from the Saudi Arabian city.
Meanwhile, an Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft with 246 Indians evacuated from war-torn Sudan landed in Mumbai on Thursday. The plane, which took off from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia around 11 am IST, landed at the city airport at 3.15 pm, an official said. The passengers included at least two in wheelchairs.
"Another #OperationKaveri flight comes to Mumbai. 246 more Indians come back to the motherland," External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar tweeted.
The first batch of 360 Indians arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), in a statement issued in the evening, said a batch of 244 Indian evacuees from the strife-torn African country arrived at the Mumbai aerodrome from Jeddah.
The first flight to the city, C17, under the Indian government’s evacuation mission ‘Operation Kaveri’, landed at the airport at 15.14 pm from Jeddah, carrying 244 Indian nationals, CSMIA said in the statement. The evacuees were from as many as 18 states, including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.
(With inputs from PTI)
