Delhi: 1,350 Indians have been evacuated from Yemen and efforts are on to rescue over 2,000 others from various parts of the strife-torn country where situation has deteriorated significantly due to escalation in fighting between warring groups.
Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh, who was overseeing the massive evacuation operation from Djibouti, had also gone to Sanaa, the largest Yemeni city from where Air India was rescuing Indians after getting permission to land. Singh has come back to Djibouti on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Navy ship INS Mumbai sent to evacuate Indians from Aden could not dock at the city port due to heavy shelling and small boats were used to ferry the people to the ship.
"There is heavy shelling in Aden. The ship is anchored 5-6 kilometres off the coast. Indian nationals are being taken by boat to board the ship there," Swaraj said.
Official sources said the evacuation operation was going on notwithstanding the deteriorating situation across Yemen.
"We hope to complete the evacuation operation in the next few days," they said.
The sources said though security situation was becoming more precarious in Sanaa due to increasing hold of al-Qaeda, India has been given slots to carry out air sorties to take out its citizens from the city.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said over 300 Indians have been brought back from Sanaa and reached Djibouti enroute to India.
"Two Air India flights out of Sana’a land in Djibouti today with 325 on board," he tweeted.
